Computer Science
Scientific paper
Jul 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992metic..27r.281r&link_type=abstract
Meteoritics, vol. 27, no. 3, volume 27, page 281
Computer Science
Scientific paper
Opaque-mineral-rich chondrules are among the least common chondrule types and have received scant attention since their discovery by Gustav Rose in 1864. This category includes chondrules comprised principally of metallic Fe-Ni (Tschermak, 1885; Gooding and Keil, 1981) or chrome-spinel (Ramdohr, 1967; Krot et al., 1992). Here I report the occurrence of seven magnetite-pentlandite chondrules in Karoonda (CK4), PCA82500 (CK4/5) and EET90007 (CK5). The chondrules range in size from 225x255 micrometers to 440x570 micrometers and have ellipsoidal or spheroidal morphologies. All are concentrically layered: five of the chondrules have 20-60-micrometer-thick magnetite rims surrounding pentlandite-rich cores or mantles; two of the chondrules have thin pentlandite rims surrounding magnetite-rich cores and mantles. One chondrule from Karoonda has four distinct alternating layers of magnetite and pentlandite. Accessory phases, which occur in one or more of the chondrules, include pyrrhotite, chlorapatite, ilmenite, and chalcopyrite. The chondrules have finely to coarsely granular textures; in the center of one chondrule from PCA82500 there is a 25x100 micrometers subhedral crystal of pentlandite. All of the chondrules appear to be recrystallized, presumably due to metamorphism of their host rocks. The magnetite-pentlandite chondrules are very similar to the magnetite-pentlandite-rich nodules within mafic silicate chondrules in CK chondrites. I examined four nodules that range in size from 58x64 micrometers to 400x670 micrometers and have ellipsoidal or spheroidal morphologies. All but one are concentrically layered; one nodule from a Karoonda chondrule has four concentric layers of magnetite+-pentlandite. The nodules probably formed from immiscible sulfide-oxide droplets within their molten silicate chondrule hosts during chondrule formation. Upon cooling, magnetite and monosulfide solid solution (Mss) precipitated during cotectic crystallization; the Mss transformed into pentlandite after cooling below 610 degrees C. Dense immiscible liquid droplets tend to get expelled from the equators of their spinning molten spheroidal hosts if they do not happen to be located in the molten spheroids' centers where the centrifugal forces are minimal. This phenomenon also affected the four magnetite-pentlandite nodules: one nodule is near the margin and three are at the centers of their host silicate chondrules. The similarities in size, shape, mineralogy, and texture between the magnetite-pentlandite chondrules and nodules indicate that these chondrules constitute the set of immiscible nodule droplets that were lost to their mafic silicate chondrule hosts after melting. The occurrence of magnetite-pentlandite chondrules and nodules has important implications for the timing of CK chondrite oxidation. If oxidation had occurred after agglomeration and transformed metallic Fe-Ni into magnetite, the large (factor of 2) increase in molar volume would have disrupted the nodules and chondrules and destroyed the evidence for rhythmic layering. The intactness of the chondrules and nodules implies that the oxidation of fine-grained metallic Fe-Ni into magnetite probably occurred before agglomeration, either during chondrule formation in a region of high fo(sub)2 or within porous chondrule-precursor dust clumps after nebular temperatures cooled below ~130 degrees C. Hence, the pervasive silicate darkening of CK chondrites (Kallemeyn et al., 1991; Rubin, 1992) was caused by the shock mobilization of magnetite and pentlandite, not metallic Fe-Ni and troilite as in shock-darkened ordinary chondrites. References: Gooding J.L. and Keil K. (1981) Meteoritics 16, 17- 43; Kallemeyn G.W., Rubin A.E. and Wasson J.T. (1991) Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 55, 881-892; Krot A., Ivanova M.A. and Wasson J.T. (1992) Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., submitted; Ramdohr P. (1967) Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 31, 1961-1967; Rubin A.E. (1992) Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 1705-1714; Tschermak G. (1885) Die Mikroskopische Beschaffenheit der Meteoriten. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart.
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