Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Jul 1993
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993metic..28r.433s&link_type=abstract
Meteoritics, vol. 28, no. 3, volume 28, page 433
Mathematics
Logic
Acfer 217, Carlisle Lakes, Chondrites, Carlisle Lakes-Type, Chromite, Meteorites, Classification, Olivine, Pentlandite, Pyrrhotite, Regolith Breccia, Rumuruti
Scientific paper
We report here preliminary results of the investigation of a meteorite that fell on January 28, 1934, at 10:45 p.m. at Rumuruti, Kenya. The stone, weighing originally about 75 g, was part of a shower of a few pounds. It was picked up immediately after the fall and has been in the collection of the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin since 1938, but it has never been investigated. The stone has a black crust. A cut exhibits a nice light-dark structure typical of regolithic breccias. The numerous clasts are light-grey and reach up to 7 mm. The groundmass is dark grey. The portion of chondrules in the meteorite is rather small. They are often broken or irregularly shaped. The mineralogical investigation revealed a quite equilibrated olivine with a high fayalite content ranging in composition from Fa37 to Fa42 and averaging Fa39 (PMD 2.4; n = 66). The grains are up to 400 micrometers and often appear to be fragments of larger lithologies. Low-Ca pyroxene is much less abundant. It is unequilibrated with a mean of approximately Fs26 (n = 2). It is smaller than olivine (up to ~100 micrometers) and often shows polysynthetical twinning. A Ca-rich pyroxene was measured having En43Fs17Wo40. The common plagioclase reaches several micrometers and is mostly of oligoclasic composition with a mean of Ab85An11Or5 (n = 15), similar to OCs [1]. Also whitlockite of a composition similar to OCs [2] has been observed. Common sulfides comprise pentlandite (~35 wt% Ni) and low-Ni iron sulfide, which is pyrrhotite according to powder diffraction patterns. They occur individually or intergrown as grains of up to 1 mm. Pentlandite partly forms flame-like exsolutions in pyrrhotite. Also chalcopyrite, which is otherwise a rare mineral in meteorites [3], can be observed in grains of up to 50 micrometers. It is generally intergrown with the other sulfides. The common chromian spinel is Ti-rich (TiO2 ~6 wt%), Cr2O3 ranges from 32 to 48 wt%, and FeO from 37 to 53 wt%. For charge balance a high Fe3+-content is required (12-51 mol% of the iron). The mean composition of this spinel phase can be expressed as a mixture of the end members chromite (55 mol%), ulvospinel (17 mol%), magnetite (15 mol%), and spinel (9 mol%). Only the magnetite (4-25 mol%) and the chromite component (46-68 mol%) are strongly variable, obviously substituting each other. Chromian spinel occurs intergrown with the sulfides, as xenomorphic or chondrulelike individual grains (up to 200 micrometers) or as inclusions in the olivine. Nickel-iron is a rare phase. Only four grains of up to 30 micrometers have been observed. It seems to be associated with pentlandite and is very rich in Ni (67 wt% Ni). The homogeneity of the olivine and the grain size of plagioclase indicates a classification as a type-4 chondrite, whereas some glass in a chondrule points also to type 3. A refined investigation of clasts and groundmass will provide more clarity. Rumuruti is only mildly shocked (S2 according to [4]), but a vein restricted to one of the light clasts indicates that components of the meteorite experienced higher shock pressures. The unusual assemblage of fayalite-rich olivine (Fa39), Ti- and Fe3+-rich chromite, pentlandite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite is comparable to the highly oxidized Carlisle Lakes-type meteorites [3,5]. Rumuruti now brings this group, together with Carlisle Lakes, ALH85151, Y75302 [3], and Acfer 217 [6], to five meteorites where Rumuruti is the first observed fall. References: [1] Van Schmus W. R. and Ribbe P. H. (1968) GCA, 32, 1327-1342. [2] Van Schmus W. R. and Ribbe P. H. (1969) GCA, 33, 637-640. [3] Rubin A. E. and Kallemeyn G. W. (1989) GCA, 53, 3035-3044. [4] Stoffler D. et al. (1991) GCA, 55, 3845-3867. [5] Weisberg M. K. et al. (1991) GCA, 55, 2657-2669. [6] Bischoff A. et al. (1993) Meteoritics, submitted.
Otto J.
Schulze Henrik
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