Sulfur isotopic systematics in alteration assemblages in martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001

Details Sulfur isotopic systematics in alteration assemblages in martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001 Sulfur isotopic systematics in alteration assemblages in martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001

Aug 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996gecoa..60.2921s&link_type=abstract

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 60, Issue 15, pp.2921-2926

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14

Scientific paper

ALH84001 is a coarse-grained, clastic orthopyroxenite meteorite related to the SNC meteorite group ( hergottites, akhlites, hassigny). Superimposed upon the orthopyroxene-dominant igneous mineral assemblage is a hydrothermal signature. This hydrothermal overprint consists of carbonate assemblages occurring in spheroidal aggregates and fine-grained carbonate-sulfide vug-filling. The sulfide in this assemblage has been identified as pyrite, an unusual sulfide in meteorites. Previously, Burgess et al. (1989) reported a bulk 34 S for a SNC group meteorite (Shergotty) of -0.5 ± 1.5 . Here, we report the first martian 34 S values from individual sulfide grains. Using newly developed ion microprobe techniques, we were able to determine 34 S of the pyrite in ALH84001 with a 1 a precision of better than ±0.5 . The 34 S values for the pyrite range from +4.8 to +7.8 . Within the stated uncertainties, the pyrite from ALH84001 exhibits a real variability in 34 S in this alteration assemblage. In addition, these sulfides are demonstrably enriched in 34 S relative to Canon Diablo troilite and sulfides from most other meteorites. This signature implies that the planetary body represented by ALH84001 experienced processes capable of fractionating sulphur isotopes and that hydrothermal conditions changed during pyrite precipitation (T, pH, fluid composition, etc.). The fractionated signature of the sulphur in the pyrite is most likely attributed to either conditions of pyrite precipitation (low temperature, reduced (low o 2 ) and moderately alkaline (pH > 8) environment) or enrichment of fluids in 34 S by surface processes (weathering or impact processes) prior to precipitation. These new data are not consistent with the pyrite recording either biogenic activity or atmospheric fractionation of sulphur through nonthermal escape mechanisms or oxidation processes. This study also demonstrates the usefulness of ion microprobe measurements of sulphur isotopes in constraining conditions on other planetary bodies.

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