Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Mikouchi, T..
In Renazzo-like carbonaceous (CR) chondrites, abundant original Fe,Ni-metal is preserved in chrondules, but the matrix is characterized by fine-grained magnetite with phyllosilicate. This combination of reduced Fe in chrodrules with oxidized Fe and phyllosilicate in the matrix has been attributed to aqueous alteration of matrix at relatively low temperatures.
A strong link between Itokawa particles and LL chondrites was confirmed by preliminary examinations of Hayabusa particles [e.g., 1, 2]. Both poorly equilibrated and highly equilibrated particles have been found among the grains returned from Itokawa [1], and it is suggested that they correspond to LL4 and LL5-6, respectively. Here we report the petrography of two Itokawa particles and TEM study of one, and compare them to Antarctic LL chondrites with variable petrologic types (LL4-LL7) in order to understand the metamorphic history of asteroid Itokawa.
Most Martian meteorites are heavily shocked, exhibiting numerous shock features, for example undulatory extinction of olivine and pyroxene, the presence of diaplectic glass ("maskelynite") and the formation of shock melt. Among these shock features, olivine darkening ("brown" olivine) is unique in Martian meteorites because no other meteorite group shows such a feature. Although the presence of brown olivine in shergottites was reported thirty years ago, detailed observation by TEM has not been performed until the NWA 2737 chassignite was discovered, whose olivine is darkened, being completely black in hand specimen. Fe metal nano-particles were found in NWA 2737 olivine which are considered to have been formed by olivine reduction during heavy shock. Subsequently, magnetite nano-particles were also found in other Martian meteorites and the coexistence of Fe metal and magnetite nano-particles was reported in the NWA 1950 shergottite and some Fe metal nano-particles were mantled by magnetite. Therefore, the formation process of nano-particles seems to be complex. Because "brown" olivine is unique to Martian meteorites, they have a potential to constrain their shock conditions. In order to better understand the shock history of Martian meteorites, we compared olivine in several shergottites with that in a highly-shocked L chondrite which contains ringwoodite.
Carbonaceous (C) chondrites are potentially the most primitive among chondrites because they mostly escaped thermal metamorphism that affected the other chondrite groups. C chondrites are chemically distinguished from other chondrites by their high Mg/Si ratios and refractory elements, and have experienced various degrees of aqueous alteration. They are subdivided into eight subgroups (CI, CM, CO, CV, CK, CR, CB and CH) based on major element and oxygen isotopic ratios. Their elemental ratios vary over a wide range, in contrast to those of ordinary and enstatite chondrites which are relatively uniform. It is critical to know how many separate bodies are represented by the C chondrites. In this study we defined 4 distinct cosmic-ray exposure (CRE) age groups of CMs and systematically characterized the petrography in each of the 4 CRE age groups to determine whether the groups have significant petrographic differences with such differences probably reflecting different parent body (asteroid) geological processing, or multiple original bodies. We have reported the results of a preliminary grouping at the NIPR Symp. in 2013 [3], however, we revised the grouping and here report our new results.
The Chelyabinsk meteorite, which passed over the Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia on Feb. 15th, 2013, brought serious damage by the shock wave and airburst. The diameter of the parent meteoroid is estimated to be approximately 20 m in diameter [1]. It was reported that the impact by this meteorite shower was 4,000 times as large as the TNT explosive and this was the largest airburst on Earth since the asteroid impact in Tunguska, Russia in 1908. The mineralogy and geochemical study of the recovered samples shows that Chelyabinsk is an LL5 chondrite [1]. In this study we analyzed several fragments of Chelyabinsk whose noble gas compositions have been measured and depths from the surface of the parent meteoroid were estimated [2]. We examined how mineralogical characteristics change with depth from the surface. This kind of study has never been performed and thus may be able to offer significant information about the evolution of meteorite parent bodies.
JAXA Hayabusa mission success-fully returned particles of the asteroid Itokawa to the earth in 2010. The recovered particles were carefully studied by the preliminary examination (PE) team and the obtained results are providing significant and unique information about the formation and evolution of meteorite parent bodies [1-6]. These particles further revealed that their mineral compositions and oxygen isotopes are close to those of equilibrated LL chon-drites [1,2], which matches with the observation at the orbit [7]. After the PE, JAXA distributed the samples as international AO study and we received 4 new and 3 PE particles. The new samples may contain some exot-ic components that have not been found by the PE study, and are of special interest. We have performed a detailed mineralogical and crystallographic study on these particles and here report the results.
One of the fundamental aspects of any astromaterial is its shock history, since this factor elucidates critical historical events, and also because shock metamorphism can alter primary mineralogical and petrographic features, and reset chronologies.
Chondrites are chemically primitive and carbonaceous (C) chondrites are potentially the most primitive among them because they mostly escaped thermal metamor-phism that affected the other chondrite groups and ratios of their major, non-volatile and most of the volatile elements are similar to those of the Sun. Therefore, C chondrites are ex-pected to retain a good record of the origin and early history of the solar system. Carbonaceous chondrites are chemically differentiated from other chondrites by their high Mg/Si ratios and refractory elements, and have experienced various degrees of aqueous alteration. They are subdivided into eight subgroups (CI, CM, CO, CV, CK, CR, CB and CH) based on major element and oxygen isotopic ratios. Their elemental ratios spread over a wide range though those of ordinary and enstatite chondrites are relatively uniform. It is critical to know how many sepa-rate bodies are represented by the C chondrites. In this study, CM chondrites, the most abundant carbona-ceous chondrites, are examined. They are water-rich, chon-drule- and CAI-bearing meteorites and most of them are brec-cias. High-temperature components such as chondrules, iso-lated olivine and CAIs in CMs are frequently altered and some of them are replaced by clay minerals and surrounded by sul-fides whose Fe was derived from mafic silicates. On the basis of degrees of aqueous alteration, CMs have been classified into subtypes from 1 to 2, although Rubin et al. [1] assigned subtype 1 to subtype 2 and subtype 2 to subtype 2.6 using various petrologic properties. The classification is based on petrographic and mineralogic properties. For example, though tochilinite (2[(Fe, Mg, Cu, Ni[])S] 1.57-1.85 [(Mg, Fe, Ni, Al, Ca)(HH)2]) clumps are produced during aqueous alteration, they disappear and sulfide appears with increasing degrees of aqueous alteration. Cosmic-ray exposure (CRE) age measurements of CM chondrites reveal an unusual feature. Though CRE ages of other chondrite groups range from several Myr to tens of Myr, CMs exposure ages are not longer than 7 Myr with one-third of the CM having less than 1 Myr CRE age. For those CM chondrites that have CRE ages <1 Myr, there are two discern-able CRE peaks. Because a CRE age reflects how long a me-teorite is present as a separate body in space, the peaks pre-sumably represent collisional events on the parent body (ies) [2]. In this study we defined 4 distinct CRE age groups of CMs and systematically characterized the petrography in each of the 4 CRE age groups to determine whether the groups have significant petrographic differences, with such differences probably reflecting different parent body (asteroid) geological processing, or multiple original bodies.
Almahata Sitta (AS) is a polymict breccia mainly composed of variable ureilite lithologies with small amounts of chondritic lithologies [1]. Fe metal is a common accessory phase in ureilites, but our earlier study on Fe metals in one of AS fragments (#44) revealed a unique mineralogy never seen in other ureilites [2,3]. In this abstract we report detailed transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on these metal grains to better understand the thermal history of ureilites. We prepared FIB sections of AS#44 by JEOL JIB-4000 from the PTS that was well characterized by SEM-EBSD in our earlier study [2]. The sections were then observed by STEM (JEOL JEM- 2100F). One of the FIB sections shows a submicron-sized symplectic intergrown texture composed of Fe metal (kamacite), Fe carbide (cohenite), Fe phosphide (schreibersite), and Fe sulfide (troilite). Each phase has an identical SAED pattern in spite of its complex texture, suggesting co-crystallization of all phases. This is probably caused by shock re-melting of pre-existing metal + graphite to form a eutectic-looking texture. The other FIB section is mostly composed of homogeneous Fe metal (93 wt% Fe, 5 wt% Ni, and 2 wt% Si), but BF-STEM images exhibited the presence of elongated lathy grains (approx. 2 microns long) embedded in the interstitial matrix. The SAED patterns from these lath grains could be indexed by alpha-Fe (bcc) while interstitial areas are gamma-Fe (fcc). The elongated alpha-Fe grains show tweed-like structures suggesting martensite transformation. Such a texture can be formed by rapid cooling from high temperature where gamma-Fe was stable. Subsequently alpha-Fe crystallized, but gamma-Fe remained in the interstitial matrix due to quenching from high temperature. This scenario is consistent with very rapid cooling history of ureilites suggested by silicate mineralogy.
Two thermally-metamorphosed ordinary chondrite regolith breccias, Monahans 1998 (H5) and Zag (H3-6) contain fluid inclusion-bearing halite (NaCl) crystals, dated by K-Ar, Rb-Sr and I-Xe systematics to be approx. 4.5 billion years old. Heating/freezing studies of the aqueous fluid inclusions demonstrated that they were trapped near 25 C, and their continued presence in the halite grains requires that their incorporation into the H chondrite asteroid was post metamorphism.
Almahata Sitta (AS) is a polymict breccia mainly composed of various ureilite lithologies with lesser chondritic lithologies [1]. In the ureilite lithologies, Fe metal is a common accessory phase present either as large grain boundary grains or small particles formed by reduction of olivine and pyroxene. In our earlier studies on grain boundary metals in one of AS fragments (#44) we found unique features never seen in other ureilites [2,3]. In order to further characterize these metal grains, we performed a detailed TEM study on a FIB section prepared from one of AS #44 grain boundary metals and here discuss its thermal history.
Regolith from C (and related) asteroid bodies are a focus of the current missions Dawn at Ceres, Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS REx. An asteroid as large as Ceres is expected to be covered by a mature regolith, and as Hayabusa demonstrated, flat and therefore engineeringly-safe ponded deposits will probably be the sampling sites for both Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS REx. Here we examine what we have learned about the mineralogy of fine-grained asteroid regolith from recent meteorite studies and the examination of the samples harvested from asteroid Itokawa by Hayabusa.
Fe-bearing phyllosilicates are the dominant product of aqueous alteration in carbonaceous chondrites, and serpentine is the most abundant phyllosilicate in CM2 chondrites that are the most abundant carbonaceous chondrite. Browning et al. predicted that Fe(3+)/(sum of Fe) ratios of serpentine in CM chondrites should change with progressive alteration. They proposed that progressive CM alteration is best monitored by evaluating the progress of Si and Fe3+ substitutions that necessarily attend the transition from end-member cronstedtite to serpentine. Their proposed Mineralogic Alteration Index, 2-(Fe(3+)/(2-Si)), was intended to highlight and utilize the relevant ex-change information in the stoichiometric phyllosilicate formulas based upon the coupled substitution of 2(Fe(3+), Al) = Si + (Mg, Fe(2+)...) in serpentine. The value of this ratio increases as alteration proceeds. We always wanted to directly test Browning s pre-diction through actual measurements of the Fe3+ con-tent of serpentine at the micron scale appropriate to EPMA analyses (Zega et al. have measured it at much finer scale), and this test can now be made using Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (SR-XANES). Thus, we have recently begun investigation with CMs that span a large portion of the range of observed aqueous alteration, and we first analyzed Murray, Nogoya, and ALH84029 by SR-XANES. However, we did not find clear correlation between Fe3+/(sum of Fe) ratios of serpentine and their alteration degrees. We thus analyzed serpentine in three more CMs and here report their Fe3+/(sum of Fe) ratios in comparison with our previous results.
The successful analysis of comet 81P/Wild 2 particles returned by the Stardust mission has revealed that the Wild 2 dust contains abundant silicate grains that are much larger than interstellar grains and appear to have formed in the inner regions of the solar nebula [1]. Wild 2 particles include minerals which are isotopically and mineralogically similar to CAIs [e.g., 2, 3] and chondrules [e.g., 4] in chondrites. In addition, particles similar to amoeboid olivine aggregates (AOAs) also have been discovered [5, 6,7]. C2067,2,112,1 is a terminal particle recovered from track #112 (T112). Nakamura-Messenger et al. [7] showed that the forsterite grain in T112 has O-16 enrichment of approximately 40 0/00 (vs. SMOW) and possibly formed together with AOAs. In this study, we have examined the mineralogy of the T112 particle and compared the possible relationships between T112 and AOAs in primitive meteorites.
The 0.6-0.7 micron absorption band observed for C-type asteroids is caused by the presence of Fe(3+) in phyllosilicates . Because Fe-bearing phyllosilicates, especially serpentine, are the most dominant product of aqueous alteration in the most abundant carbonaceous chondrites, CM chondrites, it is important to understand the crystal chemistry of serpentine in CM chondrites to better understand spectral features of C-type asteroids. CM chondrites show variable degrees of aqueous alteration, which should be related to iron valences in serpentine. It is predicted that the Fe(3+)/Sum of (Fe) ratios of serpentine in CM chondrites decrease as alteration proceeds by Si and Fe(3+) substitutions from end-member cronstedtite to serpentine, which should be apparent in the absorption intensity of the 0.6-0.7 micron band from C-type asteroids. In fact, the JAXA Hayabusa 2 target (C-type asteroid: 1993 JU3) exhibits heterogeneous spectral features (0.7 micron absorption band disappears by rotation). From these points of view, we have analyzed iron valences of matrix serpentine in several CM chondrites which span the entire observed range of aqueous alteration using Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (SR-XANES). In this abstract we discuss the relationship between obtained Fe(3+)/Sum of (Fe) ratios and alteration degrees by adding new data to our previous studies
Zagami, a basaltic shergottite, contains several kinds of lithologies such as Normal Zagami consisting of Fine-grained (FG) and Coarse-grained (CG), Dark Mottled lithology (DML), and Olivine-rich late-stage melt pocket (DN). Treiman and Sutton concluded that Zagami (Normal Zagami) is a fractional crystallization product from a single magma. It has been suggested that there were two igneous stages (deep magma chamber and shallow magma chamber or surface lava flow) on the basis of chemical zoning features of pyroxenes which have homogeneous Mg-rich cores and FeO, CaO zoning at the rims. Nyquist et al. reported that FG has a different initial Sr isotopic ratio than CG and DML, and suggested the possibility of magma mixing on Mars. Here we report new results of petrology and mineralogy for DML and the Olivine-rich lithology (we do not use DN here), the most evolved lithology in this rock, to understand the relationship among lithologies and reveal Zagami s formation history
We have recently discovered the first well-preserved calcium aluminum-rich inclusion (CAI) in a CI1 chondrite (Ivuna). Previously, all CI1 chondrites were thought to be devoid of preserved CAI and chondrules due to the near total aqueous alteration to which their parent body (bodies) have been subjected. The CAI is roughly spherical, but with a slight teardrop geometry and a maximum diameter of 170 microns (fig. 1). It lacks any Wark-Lovering Rim. Incipient aqueous alteration, and probably shock, have rendered large portions of the CAI poorly crystalline. It is extremely fine-grained, with only a few grains exceeding 10 microns. We have performed electron microprobe analyses (EPMA), FEG-SEM imaging and element mapping, as well as electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) and synchrotron X-ray diffraction (SXRD) in order to determine the fundamental characteristics of this apparently unique object.
Yamato 984028 (Y984028) was discovered by the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) in 1998 and recently classified as a lherzolitic shergottite with large pyroxene oikocrysts enclosing rounded olivine and chromites. It also contains shock veining and maskelynite. Y984028 is paired with the more recent lherzolitic shergottite finds Y000027/47/97 based on similarities in mineralogy and chemistry, as well as isotopic composition. We present here the studied Ar-39-Ar-40 of Y-984028 whole rock (WR) and pyroxene (Px), in order to gain better understanding of trapped Ar components with a comparison of the possibly-paired Y000097 Ar release.