Comparative planetary mineralogy: Pyroxene major- and minor-element chemistry and partitioning of vanadium between pyroxene and melt in planetary basalts
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Abstract
Pyroxene grains from 14 basalt suites from the Earth, Moon, Mars, and Vesta were studied by electron- and ion-microprobe techniques. The results show that several elemental trends can be related to planetary parentage and crystallization conditions including paragenetic sequence and kinetics. Ferric iron (Fe3+) systematics show that terrestrial pyroxene is enriched in Fe3+ compared with pyroxene from Mars due to higher oxygen fugacity (fO₂) conditions on the Earth that produce more Fe3+ in basaltic melts. Low fO₂ conditions on the Moon and Vesta result in very little or no Fe3+ in pyroxene from these bodies. Terrestrial pyroxenes contain more Na than those from Mars, yet martian plagioclase contains more Na than terrestrial. This difference is because terrestrial pyroxene contains more Fe3+ and thus the acmite component (NaFe3+Si2O6) is more important on Earth than Mars. Pyroxenes from the Moon and Vesta have very little Na, which can be attributed to the overall volatile-depleted nature of these bodies. All planetary pyroxenes show that Cr decreases with increasing fractionation because it is compatible in pyroxene, and in many basalts the crystallization of chromite depletes the melt in Cr3+. The Mn/Fe2+ systematics in pyroxene show distinct trends for the planetary bodies in the order Vesta > Mars > Earth > Moon. These Mn/Fe2+ trends are most likely affected by the volatility of Mn relative to Fe, and thus there is an increase in the Mn/Fe ratio with increasing distance from the Sun, except for the Moon, which likely lost Mn during its giant impact origin. These same trends have been documented for olivine from the different planets, and this parameter as measured in basaltic silicates is a robust fingerprint of planetary parentage. Vanadium partitioning into planetary pyroxene grains is affected by oxygen fugacity, the availability of charge-balancing elements, basaltic crystallization sequences, and kinetics. Partitioning of V into pyroxene at low fO₂ conditions (i.e., Moon and Vesta) is seen to increase as the charge-balancing cation IVAl increases. Partitioning of V into pyroxene at relatively high fO₂ conditions (i.e., Earth and Mars) increases with increasing Na and IVAl, which provide charge balance for incorporation of V4+. Because of the above complexities, a V-valence oxybarometer as measured in planetary pyroxene grains is not likely to be robust.
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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- Lithium isotopic systematics of granites and pegmatites from the Black Hills, South Dakota
- Identifying the effects of petrologic processes in a closed basaltic system using trace- element concentrations in olivines and glasses: Implications for comparative planetology
- Tectonic implications of diverse igneous blocks in Franciscan mélange, Northern California and southwestern Oregon
- The petrogenesis of the Apollo 14 high-Al mare basalts
- Experimental insights on crystal chemistry of high-Ti garnets from garnet-melt partitioning of rare-earth and high-field-strength elements
- The atomic arrangement of merrillite from the Fra Mauro Formation, Apollo 14 lunar mission: The first structure of merrillite from the Moon
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- Pyroxene europium valence oxybarometer: Effects of pyroxene composition, melt composition, and crystallization kinetics
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- Crystal chemistry of lunar merrillite and comparison to other meteoritic and planetary suites of whitlockite and merrillite
- An experimental study of trace-element partitioning between Ti-Al-clinopyroxene and melt: Equilibrium and kinetic effects including sector zoning
- Minor- and trace-element sector zoning in synthetic enstatite
- Insights into the redox history of the NWA 1068/1110 martian basalt from mineral equilibria and vanadium oxybarometry
- Transformations of Mg- and Ca-sulfate hydrates in Mars regolith
- An experimental study of the oxidation state of vanadium in spinel and basaltic melt with implications for the origin of planetary basalt
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- Identification of relict forsterite grains in forsterite-rich chondrules from the Mokoia CV3 carbonaceous chondrite
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- α-PbO2-type nanophase of TiO2 from coesite-bearing eclogite in the Dabie Mountains, China–Reply
- Rietveld structure refinement of perovskite and post-perovskite phases of NaMgF3 (Neighborite) at high pressures
- Letter. Si vacancies in the 10-Å phase
Articles in the same Issue
- Orbicular oxides in carbonatitic kimberlites
- Fluid-mediated polymetamorphism related to Proterozoic collision of Archean Wyoming and Superior provinces in the Black Hills, South Dakota
- Lithium isotopic systematics of granites and pegmatites from the Black Hills, South Dakota
- Identifying the effects of petrologic processes in a closed basaltic system using trace- element concentrations in olivines and glasses: Implications for comparative planetology
- Tectonic implications of diverse igneous blocks in Franciscan mélange, Northern California and southwestern Oregon
- The petrogenesis of the Apollo 14 high-Al mare basalts
- Experimental insights on crystal chemistry of high-Ti garnets from garnet-melt partitioning of rare-earth and high-field-strength elements
- The atomic arrangement of merrillite from the Fra Mauro Formation, Apollo 14 lunar mission: The first structure of merrillite from the Moon
- The behavior of Li and B in lunar mare basalts during crystallization, shock, and thermal metamorphism: Implications for volatile element contents of martian basalts
- Pyroxene europium valence oxybarometer: Effects of pyroxene composition, melt composition, and crystallization kinetics
- Comparative planetary mineralogy: Pyroxene major- and minor-element chemistry and partitioning of vanadium between pyroxene and melt in planetary basalts
- Crystal chemistry of lunar merrillite and comparison to other meteoritic and planetary suites of whitlockite and merrillite
- An experimental study of trace-element partitioning between Ti-Al-clinopyroxene and melt: Equilibrium and kinetic effects including sector zoning
- Minor- and trace-element sector zoning in synthetic enstatite
- Insights into the redox history of the NWA 1068/1110 martian basalt from mineral equilibria and vanadium oxybarometry
- Transformations of Mg- and Ca-sulfate hydrates in Mars regolith
- An experimental study of the oxidation state of vanadium in spinel and basaltic melt with implications for the origin of planetary basalt
- Valence state partitioning of vanadium between olivine-liquid: Estimates of the oxygen fugacity of Y980459 and application to other olivine-phyric martian basalts
- Identification of relict forsterite grains in forsterite-rich chondrules from the Mokoia CV3 carbonaceous chondrite
- Formation of spinel-, hibonite-rich inclusions found in CM2 carbonaceous chondrites
- Deep metastable eutectic condensation in Al-Fe-SiO-H2-O2 vapors: Implications for natural Fe-aluminosilicates
- α-PbO2-type nanophase of TiO2 from coesite-bearing eclogite in the Dabie Mountains, China–Comment
- α-PbO2-type nanophase of TiO2 from coesite-bearing eclogite in the Dabie Mountains, China–Reply
- Rietveld structure refinement of perovskite and post-perovskite phases of NaMgF3 (Neighborite) at high pressures
- Letter. Si vacancies in the 10-Å phase
