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Shock-induced mobilization of metal and sulfide in planetesimals: Evidence from the Buck Mountains 005 (L6 S4) dike-bearing chondrite

  • Alex Ruzicka EMAIL logo , Ryan Brown , Jon Friedrich , Melinda Hutson , Richard Hugo and Mark Rivers
Published/Copyright: November 24, 2015
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 100 Issue 11-12

Abstract

The conditions under which metal cores formed in silicate-metal planetary bodies in the early Solar System are poorly known. We studied the Buck Mountains 005 (L6) chondrite with serial sectioning, X‑ray computed microtomography, and optical and electron microscopy to better understand how metal and troilite were redistributed as a result of a moderately strong (shock stage S4) shock event, as an example of how collisional processes could have contributed to differentiation. The chondrite was recovered on Earth in multiple small pieces, some of which have a prominent, 1.5-3 mm wide holocrystalline shock melt dike that forms a jointed, sheet-like structure, as well as an associated shock vein network. The data suggest that metal and troilite within the dike were melted, sheared, and transported as small parcels of melt, with metal moving out of the dike and along branching veins to become deposited as coarser nodules and veins within largely unmelted host. Troilite also mobilized but partly separated from metal to become embedded as finer-grained particles, vein networks, and emulsions intimately intergrown with silicates. Rock textures and metal compositions imply that shock melts cooled rapidly against relatively cool parent body materials, but that low-temperature annealing occurred by deep burial within the parent body. Our results demonstrate the ability of shock processes to create larger metal accumulations in substantially unmelted meteorite parent bodies, and they have implications for the formation of iron meteorites and for core formation within colliding planetesimals.

Keywords: Lunar and planetary studies; shock metamorphism; L6 chondrite; petrography; chondrite; olivine; kamacite; taenite; troilite; electron microscopy; FeNi metal
Received: 2014-10-19
Accepted: 2015-4-14
Published Online: 2015-11-24
Published in Print: 2015-11-1

© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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  2. Stable and metastable silicate liquid immiscibility in ferrobasalts
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  31. High-pressure spectroscopic study of siderite (FeCO3) with a focus on spin crossover
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  36. Shock-induced mobilization of metal and sulfide in planetesimals: Evidence from the Buck Mountains 005 (L6 S4) dike-bearing chondrite
  37. The accretion and differentiation of Earth under oxidizing conditions
  38. Dislocation microstructures in simple-shear-deformed wadsleyite at transition-zone conditions: Weak-beam dark-field TEM characterization of dislocations on the (010) plane
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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2015-5225
Keywords for this article
Lunar and planetary studies; shock metamorphism; L6 chondrite; petrography; chondrite; olivine; kamacite; taenite; troilite; electron microscopy; FeNi metal

Articles in the same Issue

  1. On understanding the structure and composition of crystals
  2. Stable and metastable silicate liquid immiscibility in ferrobasalts
  3. When was the Earth’s conveyor belt set in motion?
  4. Trace element partitioning into sulfide: How lithophile elements become chalcophile and vice versa
  5. Petrology on Mars
  6. Hf and Nd isotope systematics of early Archean komatiites from surface sampling and ICDP drilling in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa
  7. Quasicrystals at extreme conditions: The role of pressure in stabilizing icosahedral Al63Cu24Fe13 at high temperature
  8. Tracking the thermal decomposition of plasma-sprayed hydroxylapatite
  9. Experimental constraints on bubble formation and growth during magma ascent: A review
  10. Ankerite grains with dolomite cores: A diffusion chronometer for low- to medium-grade regionally metamorphosed clastic sediments
  11. Crystal structure, high-pressure, and high-temperature behavior of carbonates in the K2Mg(CO3)2–Na2Mg(CO3)2 join
  12. Temperature micro-mapping in oscillatory-zoned chlorite: Application to study of a green-schist facies fault zone in the Pyrenean Axial Zone (Spain)
  13. Micro- and nano-characterization of Zn-clays in nonsulfide supergene ores of southern Peru
  14. Mineralogical characterization of individual growth structures of Mn-nodules with different Ni+Cu content from the central Pacific Ocean
  15. The magma plumbing system of the Emeishan large igneous province and its role in basaltic magma differentiation in a continental setting
  16. Weathering of the Ethiopian volcanic province: A new weathering index to characterize and compare soils
  17. Recommended mineral-melt partition coefficients for FRTEs (Cu), Ga, and Ge during mantle melting
  18. Tetrahedral plot diagram: A geometrical solution for quaternary systems
  19. Investigations on alunogen under Mars-relevant temperature conditions: An example for a single-crystal-to-single-crystal phase transition
  20. Crystallization of calcium oxalate hydrates by interaction of calcite marble with fungus Aspergillus niger
  21. Direct and indirect evidence for free oxygen (O2–) in MO-silicate glasses and melts (M = Mg, Ca, Pb)
  22. Effect of fluid composition on growth rate of monazite in quartzite at 1.0 GPa and 1000 °C
  23. Determination of the full elastic tensor of single crystals using shear wave velocities by Brillouin spectroscopy
  24. Temperature dependence of the velocity-density relation for liquid metals under high pressure: Implications for the Earth’s outer core
  25. Thermal, compositional, and compressional demagnetization of cementite
  26. The MnCO3-II high-pressure polymorph of rhodocrosite
  27. Lanthanide tetrads in normalized rare element patterns of zircon from the Koktokay No. 3 granitic pegmatite, Altay, NW China
  28. Hydrogrossular, Ca3Al2(SiO4)3–x(H4O4)x: An ab initio investigation of its structural and energetic properties
  29. High-pressure synthesis of skiagite-majorite garnet and investigation of its crystal structure
  30. Mineralogical evolution of Fe–Si-rich layers at the olivine-water interface during carbonation reactions
  31. High-pressure spectroscopic study of siderite (FeCO3) with a focus on spin crossover
  32. Exploring the potential of Raman spectroscopy for crystallochemical analyses of complex hydrous silicates: I. Amphiboles
  33. Apexite, NaMg(PO4)·9H2O, a new struvite-type phase with a heteropolyhedral cluster
  34. The mechanism of infiltration of metamorphic fluids recorded by hydration and carbonation of epidote-amphibolite facies metabasaltic sills in the SW Scottish Highlands
  35. The axial ratio of hcp Fe and Fe–Ni–Si alloys to the conditions of Earth’s inner core
  36. Shock-induced mobilization of metal and sulfide in planetesimals: Evidence from the Buck Mountains 005 (L6 S4) dike-bearing chondrite
  37. The accretion and differentiation of Earth under oxidizing conditions
  38. Dislocation microstructures in simple-shear-deformed wadsleyite at transition-zone conditions: Weak-beam dark-field TEM characterization of dislocations on the (010) plane
  39. Chemical composition and crystal structure of merrillite from the Suizhou meteorite
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