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Two asteroids have clear indications of olivine-rich surface petrology without any indication of pyroxene or plagioclase, suggesting that the olivine may be quite pure. They provide probable examples of mantles of differentiated parent asteroids exposed by fragmentation and are good candidates for the parent bodies of the unusual olivine meteorite Brachina or the olivine-iron alloy meteorites called pallasites.
Inclusions called 'fluffy' Type A's or FTA's in the Allende meteorite are examined as possible candidates for relict vapor-solid condensate grains, remaining from the original solar nebula. Type A inclusions are characterized by abundant melilite and absence of primary anorthite and titaniferous pyroxene. Fluffy Type A's were probably loosely bound clumps of crystals drifting in the solar nebula, analogous to dustballs or snowflakes. Polished thin sections of all samples were studied optically and with a JEOL JSM-35 scanning electron microscope. It is reasonably clear that neither whole FTA's nor constituent nodules of the coarser grained ones were ever molten. Despite solid-state recrystallization which has affected these inclusions to varying degrees, the coarser grained material remaining in many of them is probably a relic of vapor-solid condensation in the solar nebula.
Apollo 16 stations four and five rake samples have been examined petrographically and by electron microprobe and INAA. Lithologic abundances support the idea (Korontev, 1981) that the variation of soil composition at Apollo 16 results from mixing between a component represented by station five and components much like either the dimict breccias or feldspathic fragmental breccias in composition. Pyroxene, olivine, and coexisting plagioclase compositions from within the anorthosite portions of dimict breccias bridge the gap between the Mg-rich and ferroan anorthosite fields. Analyses from associated cumulate and granulitic clasts indicate that they are the source of the intermediate material. Dimict breccias formed about 3.92 b.y. ago, the nectaris event occurred 3.84-3.92 b.y. ago, and the Cayley plains were deposited as a result of the Imbrium event sometime later than 3.84 b.y.
The results of a detailed, systematic petrographic survey of Ca, Al-rich and olivine-rich inclusions in the Allende CV3 chondrite are reported, and a new classification system based on clearly defined and readily applied petrographic criteria is presented. Most Allende inclusions are aggregates containing one or more of three distinct constituents: (1) rimmed concentric objects enriched in Al- and Ti-rich oxide minerals and various amounts of Ca-rich silicates; (2) porous, 'fine-grained' chaotic material enriched in Ca-rich silicates, especially clinopyroxenes and garnets; and (3) porous, 'fine-grained', mafic inclusion matrix, enriched in olivine, pyroxene, and feldspathoids. Two texturally distinct varieties of inclusions consist primarily of inclusion matrix: unrimmed olivine aggregates and rimmed olivine aggregates. Ca, Al-rich inclusions are classified on the basis of the size and abundance of their constituent concentric objects. Some fundamental relationships among Allende inclusions that previusly have not been emphasized are discussed.
Measurements of the spectral reflectance (0.4-2.5 microns) of three diogenite meteorites found in Antarctica are examined. Comparisons are made with previous measurements of diogenites in order to correlate the mineralogy and petrography with the spectral characteristics that can also be measured on solar system objects of unknown composition. Even though the Antarctic diogenites have the same spectral characteristics as other diogenites, there are measurable differences between all diogenite spectra. Bands caused by spin-forbidden transitions of Fe(2+) ions in pyroxene, which are identified for the first time in reflectance spectra of powdered samples, are revealed in an analysis of the spectra into sums of Gaussian components. It is shown from these laboratory measurements that spectral reflectance measurements of asteroids and other solar system objects made with the visible CVF (circular variable filter) spectrometer used for laboratory measurements can provide useful information on their surface composition.
A series of shock recovery experiments over 9.9-60.4 GPa have been carried out on naturally shocked anorthosite from the Mistastin impact structure in Labrador consisting primarily of diaplectic plagioclase glass or maskelynite, An(50), and pyroxene. Petrographic observations of the experimental products indicate that the component minerals and diaplectic glasses generally retained their initial character throughout, the only exception being the increase in fracturing which occurred in the 9.9 GPa shot. Reshocking at pressures higher than the initial shock tends to lower the refractive index of maskelynite. The increase in refractive index of maskelynite reshocked to pressures lower than the initial pressure is interpreted as due to shock densification of the diaplectic glass above the Hugoniot elastic limit and below the mixed phase regime. The data suggest that the low-high-low density transition of maskelynite occurs about 8 GPa below that of the crystal of corresponding composition.
Multivariate statistical techniques used on diogenite orthopyroxene analyses show the relationships that occur within diogenites and the two orthopyroxenite components (class I and II) in the polymict diogenite Garland. Cluster analysis shows that only Peckelsheim is similar to Garland class I (Fe-rich) and the other diogenites resemble Garland class II. The unique diogenite Y 75032 may be related to type I by fractionation. Factor analysis confirms the subdivision and shows that Fe does not correlate with the weakly incompatible elements across the entire pyroxene composition range, indicating that igneous fractionation is not the process controlling total diogenite composition variation. The occurrence of two groups of diogenites is interpreted as the result of sampling or mixing of two main sequences of orthopyroxene cumulates with slightly different compositions.
Based on the example of Abernathy (L6 chondrite), it is shown how petrographic investigation can be used to unravel the nature, chronology and conditions of superposed metamorphic events in chondrites. Features considered include the texture of the rock, optical characteristics of olivine, pyroxene and plagioclase, refractive index of plagioclase, metallographical characteristics and microhardness of Fe-Ni alloys. It is deduced that Abernathy has been involved in at least six metamorphic events since the formation of the chondrite. Four distinct shock events and two separate reheating events have been identified. The chronology of these events is established. The conditions for the last four events are reasonably well constrained. These include severe reheating (T greater than 1200 C); severe shock causing complete melting of plagioclase and local melting of the rock (P between 90 and 110 GPa, T between 1250 and 1350 C); mild shock (P between 10 and 25 GPa, T less than 500 C); and reheating below 800 C.
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is used to investigate the microstructure and microchemistry of minerals in Ca-Al-rich, coarse-grained inclusions (CAI) from the meteorite. The spinels contain only low to moderate dislocation densities and are characterized by a ubiquitous, fine black spotty texture that is thought to originate from a slightly nonstoichiometric composition. Whereas the Ti-Al-pyroxenes are relatively devoid of features, they contain veins of secondary phases apparently deposited in unhealed cracks. Chromite is identified in the veins, indicating transport of oxidized iron during alteration. The melilites show the greatest variety of microstructures and are the most heavily altered phase in CAI. High dislocation densities are common and the crystals exhibit considerable internal strain, suggesting that they have not been annealed.
Rare earth and other trace element abundances are determined in megacrysts of clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, amphibole, mica, anorthoclase, apatite and zircon, as well as their host basalts, in an effort to gather data on mineral/melt trace element partitioning during the high pressure petrogenesis of basic rocks. Phase equilibria, major element partitioning and isotopic ratio considerations indicate that while most of the pyroxene and amphibole megacrysts may have been in equilibrium with their host magmas at high pressures, mica, anorthoclase, apatite, and zircon megacrysts are unlikely to have formed in equilibrium with their host basalts. It is instead concluded that they were precipitated from more evolved magmas, and have been mixed into their present hosts.
The mineralogy and petrology of 17 near-earth asteroids are characterized using reflectance spectroscopy with ground-based telescopes. Assuming the surfaces are composed of cosmically abundant materials, the presence of certain mineralogical species can be determined from diagnostic absorption features and spectral characteristics which have been studied under known laboratory conditions and understood in terms of crystal-field theory. With one possible exception, the surface composition of near-earth asteroids consists of common rock-forming minerals such as olivine, pyroxene, and phyllosilicates. Opaque components are present but cannot be mineralogically identified with existing experimental data. The spectrum of 2201 Oljato cannot be interpreted in terms of common rock-forming minerals and is examined for cometary features because its high orbital eccentricity suggests a possible relation to comets, but no common cometary features are identified. The predominance of mafic silicate absorption features in spectra of near-earth asteroids (compared to the majority of main-belt asteroids) may be a primary compositional feature or may be the signature of relatively fresher asteroid material.
Transmission electron microscopy of a hydrated interplanetary dust particle indicates that it consists largely of a poorly crystalline phyllosilicate containing Fe, Mg and Al with an interlayer spacing of 10 to 12 A and so is distinct from the major phyllosilicate in CI and CM carbonaceous chondrites. The silicate is probably an Fe- and Mg-rich smectite or mica. Submicron, spherical to euhedral pyrrhotite and pentlandite are prominent. Unusual, low-Ni pentlandite is also common and typically occurs as rectangular platelets. Unlike many chondritic interplanetary dust particles, olivine is rare and pyroxene was not observed. Other less abundant phases are magnetite, chromite, and an unidentified phase containing Fe, Mg, Si, Ca, and Mn. This particle differs from a hydrated micrometeorite described previously by Brownlee (1978), indicating there are mineralogically different subsets of hydrated interplanetary dust particles. Despite gross similarities in mineralogy between the particle and the carbonaceous chondrites, they show appreciable differences in detail.
The use of Viking Lander 6 channel (0.4 to 1.1 microns) images to identify igneous materials is discussed. Movies of synthetic image cubes demonstrate that there are a number of contrast reversals between soils and certain rocks. Typically, large, angular rocks are brighter than the surrounding soils in the shortest wavelengths, and much darker than the soils at longest wavelengths. These results, which seem difficult to explain solely on the basis of photometric effects related to local lighting and viewing, are consistent with the presence of Fe+2 bearing silicates at the rock surfaces, producing relatively moderate absorptions in the blue and green parts of the spectrum, but more significant absorptions near about 1.0 micrometer (e.g., Fe+2 bearing pyroxenes). The soils, on the other hand, have signatures consistent with strong Fe+3 related absorptions at shorter wavelengths (e.g., Fe+3 bearing oxides or hydroxides).
The minerology and textural properties of three lunar meteorites (Yamato 791197, ALH81005, and Yamato 82192) were analyzed and compared with lunar surface rock samples. The chemical composition and textures of pyroxene and the occurrance of glass matrices were specifically addressed. The study of glass in the lunar meteorites suggests that the glass was not produced by a meteorite impact which excavated the mass into orbit towards the Earth. The glass had been devitrified on the lunar surface before the excavation, and new glass was not produced by the last impact.
The lunar magmasphere is a useful but potentially misleading analog for the earliest evolution of other planetary objects. A significant fraction of the lunar magmasphere became a crust rich in buoyant cumulus plagioclase. Another significant fraction became a series of ultramafic cumulates (the mare basalt sources) complementary to the anorthosite. These events predetermined all subsequent lunar evolution. Empirically, the Moon was big enough to produce a magmasphere. Beyond a depth limit of roughly 200 km, nearly independent of the size of the planet, the remainder of the magmasphere will probably at all times be a single convective, and therefore essentially non-differentiating layer. The fraction of the mantle contained in the outer 200 km is of course inversely related to planet size. Compared to the Moon the Earth's mantle comprises a volume of 40 x greater and a pressure range 30 x greater. Steeper dP/dZ, favoring garnets and pyroxenes, also works to dampen differentiation in larger planets. One long term consequence of the Earth's magmasphere was probably a depletion of H2O in much of the mantle. Because water is a flux for mantle convection, anhydrous parts of the mantle probably had anomalously thick lithospheres and hot asthenospheres.
The galactic cosmic particle radiation (GCR) can cause changes in condensed extraterrestrial matter in different ways. It can lose energy via ionization processes of induced nuclear reactions which lead to a wide variety of stable and radioactive cosmogenic nuclides. Heavy particles incur radiation damage in minerals such as olivine and pyroxene. Light particles predominantly tend to induce nuclear reactions, causing the development of a secondary particle cascade of neutrons, protons, pions and gamma-rays and the production of cosmogenic nuclides. Such processes are described by various models, which predict the depth and size dependent production of cosmogenic nuclides.
Coarse-grained rims composed of olivine, with or without low-Ca pyroxene, occur around all types of chondrules and compound chondrules in type 3 carbonaceous chondrites and around ordinary chondrites. The dark zoned chondrules and coarse grained rims were formed by the heating of clumps of opaque matrix material to subsolidus-subliquidus temperatures in the solar nebula. The most likely source of the heat that formed the coarse grained rims is the mechanism responsible for chondrule formation. CV chondrites may have formed in a region where the chondrule formation mechanism was less efficient, probably at greater solar distances than the ordinary chondrites. Alternatively, CV chondrules may have suffered fewer particle collisions prior to agglomeration.
The size distributions of barred-olivine (BO) and radial-pyroxene/cryptocrystalline (RPC) chondrules are investigated in a petrographic study of nine and 18 thin sections (respectively) of the L3 chondrites Inman and ALHA77011. It is found that the Inman chondrules are significantly larger than the ALHA77011 chondrules and that RPC chondrules in Inman and BO chondrules in ALHA77011 are relatively more numerous, but no significant difference in the BO and RPC size distributions is observed. A formation mechanism involving size sorting of dustball chondrule precursors by aerodynamic particle-gas interactions in a large region of the solar nebula, melting of sorted dustballs in relatively small regions, and chondrule mixing and agglomeration (from subreservoirs containing uniformly large or uniformly small chondrules of a particular compositional type) to form chondrites is proposed.