petrogenesis of the elephant moraine a79001 meteorite multiple magma pulses on the shergottite parent body abstract the eeta 79001 achondrite consists of two distinct igneous lithologies joined along a planar non brecciated contact both are basaltic rocks composed primarily of pigeonite augite and maskelynite but one contains zoned megacrysts of olivine orthopyroxene and chromite that represent disaggregated xenoliths of harzburzite both lithologies probably formed from successive volcanic flows or multiple injections of magma into a small shallow chamber many similarities between the two virtually synchronous magmas suggest that they are related possible mechanisms to explain their differences involve varying degrees of assimilation fractionation from similar parental magmas or partial melting of a similar source peridotite of these assimilation of the observed megacryst assemblage seems most plausible however some isotopic contamination may be required in any of these petrogenetic models the meteorite has suffered extensive shock metamorphism and localized melting during a large impact event that probably excavated and liberated it from its parent body both basaltic lithologies and the inferred ultramafic protolith of the megacryst assemblage are petrologically similar to other members of the shergottite group and all may have been derived from a volcanic plutonic complex on a planetary body

ce anomalies in the lew85300 eucrite evidence for ree mobilization during antarctic weathering abstract there is abundant evidence for widespread ree mobilization in antarctic eucrites resulting in ce and eu anomalies and lower whole rock ree abundances relative to typical eucrites using secondary ion mass spectrometry sims we investigated the microdistribution of ce anomalies in the antarctic polymict eucrite lew85300 ce anomalies positive and or negative are present in all three of the minerals plagioclase pyroxene and silica analysed the anomalies occur in grains from all four clasts as well as in mineral and lithic fragments from the surrounding matrix thus there appears to be no lithologic association silica which has been heavily shocked and altered exhibits a lree enriched pattern with negative ce and eu anomalies consistent with a derivation of the ree from ca phosphate dissolution trivalent ree are leached from the phosphates with preferential retention of tetravalent ce and redeposited on silica pyroxene is also widely affected by ree mobilization due to an extensive shock induced microcrack network along cleavage planes a tendency for the largest ce anomalies to occur at low lree concentrations suggests that pyroxene itself experienced ree leaching with concomitant ce retention ce anomalies are rare in plagioclase because this mineral lacks an extensive network along which ree can be mobilized the widespread ree mobilization and evidence for other forms of weathering requires that trace element data be used cautiously especially for antarctic eucrites

petrogenesis of the zagami meteorite inferences from synchrotron x ray sxrf microprobe and electron microprobe analyses of pyroxenes abstract the zagami meteorite is a shergottite a basalt rich in pigeonite augite and maskelynite glass shocked plagioclase it is one of the snc meteorites which are inferred to have formed on mars major and minor element abundances in pyroxene principally pigeonite from newly available unm samples were determined by electron microprobe abundances of trace elements ni cu zn and ga were obtained by synchrotron x ray sxrf microprobe many pigeonite grains have normally zoned rims and reversely zoned cores so that the most magnesian pigeonite forms rings or annuli in thin section view in three dimensions the most magnesian pigeonite may form tubes or hourglass shapes the cores commonly contain magmatic inclusions other pigeonites have irregular or multiple magnesian regions with magmatic inclusions among and between them abundances of ni and cr in the magnesian zones and cores are partially decoupled from abundances of other compatible mg and incompatible fe ti elements the textures chemical zoning and element decouplings in the pigeonites are consistent with igneous crystal growth at moderate cooling rates not isothermally or near equilibrium from element partitioning and mass balance the unm zagami is estimated to contain 20 5 or less cumulus pyroxene half augite and half pigeonite half the proportion suggested by equilibrium distribution of fe mg between pigeonite and melt this inconsistency may be resolved if all pigeonite melt element partitioning was affected by the rapid growth of the pigeonites the composition of the parental magma for the unm zagami calculated by mass balance on bulk and pyroxene compositions is similar to the 1170 c melt of the bmnh zagami not the 1140 c melt inferred as parental by other workers the inference that the pyroxene zoning patterns reflect only magmatic events is consistent with an igneous age of 180 m y for zagami

generation of abnormal trace element abundances in antarctic eucrites by weathering processes abstract based on rees antarctic eucrites can be divided into two groups those showing normal trace element characteristics e g similar to juvinas and those showing abnormal trace element abundances many antarctic eucrite polymict eucrite and basaltic clast samples show the abnormal trace element abundances with ree patterns exhibiting positive ce anomalies sometimes negative ce anomalies positive eu anomalies and low abundances of the remainder of the rees with the lrees generally being at lower relative abundances than the hrees most samples of crystalline clasts from the polymict eucrites lew85300 lew85302 and lew85303 show the abnormal patterns while the glassy matrixes of these meteorites show normal patterns exterior samples generally show more abnormal patterns larger anomalies greater depletions than interior samples from the same meteorites comparison of all basaltic eucrite literature data combined with our data shows that positive and negative ce anomalies and positive eu anomalies are found in about 61 of antarctic eucrite analyses and are virtually unknown in non antarctic eucrite analyses further positive ce anomalies and positive eu anomalies are commonly associated with antarctic eucrites having low ree concentrations consideration of mineral melt partition coefficients shows that it is unlikely that ce anomalies are magmatic features from the hed parent body cerium anomalies on earth are generally restricted to the weathering zone where the relative ease of oxidizing ce to the 4 state allows for fractionation of ce from the 3 rees we believe the unusual ree patterns of abnormal antarctic eucrites arise from weathering effects generated in or on the antarctic ice our suggested scenario involves formation of melt water and its equilibration with the atmosphere which promotes dissolution of ree rich phosphates and oxidation of ce tetravalent ce can then be fractionated from the trivalent ree in solution the details of the weathering process are unclear and will require detailed chemical and sem investigations of eucrites for their elucidation we predict that rapidly chilled eucrites with glassy rather than crystalline mesostases will be more likely to survive the antarctic environment without alteration of their ree patterns occasional s se and k enrichments are likely due to weathering in the antarctic environment as well but these enrichments are not well correlated with ce anomalies

two stage plume melting a possible mechanism for the origin of martian magmatism abstract the origin of martian magmatism is investigated by geochemical modeling based on the isotopic and rare earth element ree compositions of the shergottite nakhlite and chassignite snc meteorites the model proposed in this study consists of three processes early mantle differentiation in the deepest mantle to produce a plume source region composed of hydrated ringwoodite and majorite first stage dehydration melting of the plume to produce nakhlite and chassignite magmas in the deep mantle and finally second stage decompression melting of the residual plume to produce shergottite magmas in the uppermost mantle the production of light ree enriched nakhlite and chassignite magmas can be explained by the persistence of residual garnet through first stage melting and the depleted isotopic composition of the nakhlite and chassignite meteorites can be reasonably attributed to the presence of majorite in the plume source region the strongly depleted ree and isotopic composition of the primitive shergottites can similarly be explained by the existence of majorite in the plume source region coupled with extraction of the nakhlite melt from the depleted source the proposed two stage plume melting model therefore reproduces the chemical and isotopic variations of the martian magmas well suggesting a genetic relationship among the snc magmas

petrography and bulk chemistry of martian lherzolite lew88516 the meteorite lewis cliffs 88516 is a gabbroic lherzolite with geochemical and petrologic characteristics typical of the shergottites a distinct subgroup of basaltic achondrites belonging to the snc martian meteorite clan we report new inaa and microprobe data for lew88516 noting small but significant differences between our results and those previously published for this meteorite these discrepancies are mainly attributed to heterogeneities in the bulk rock powder which was distributed to several laboratories for geochemical studies other discrepancies are attributed to interlaboratory bias we emphasize that even minor variations between datasets may have the potential to significantly affect geochemical models for martian basalts small differences in bulk trace element chemistry between lew88516 and martian lherzolite alh77005 may indicate that they crystallized from different magmas copyright 1997 elsevier science ltd

chronology and petrogenesis of young achondrites shergotty zagami and alha77005 late magmatism on a geologically active planet a study was undertaken to determine the chronology petrogenesis and relationships among the shergottites shergotty and zagami and the unique achondrite alha77005 these meteorites are the product of a variety of complex processes petrogenesis chondrite normalized abundance patterns of shergotty and zagami are very similar and show pronounced depletions of both the light ree la nd and heavy ree dy lu relative to sm gd these characteristic depletions are even more pronounced for alha77005 the light ree depletion is qualitatively consistent with the presence of cumulus pyroxene and or olivine in these meteorites but trace element models show that the parental magmas of all three meteorites were probably also light ree depleted both trace element model calculations and combined rb sr and sm nd isotopic systematics show that the meteorites could not have been co magmatic nor can alha77005 be representative of the source material of the shergottites light ree depletion of the parental magmas also implies light ree depletion of the source material the sm nd systematics of the shergottites require a time averaged sub chondritic light ree enriched sm nd ratio since 4 6 ae ago the sm nd systematics of alha77005 permit a time averaged super chondritic light ree depleted sm nd ratio if its crystallization age is less than tice 0 72 ae chronology rb sr internal isochrons for all three meteorites and a sm nd internal isochron for zagami are concordant at 180 myr 39ar 40ar plateau ages of shergotty and zagami maskelynite are 250 260 myr these ages apparently reflect resetting of these isotopic systems by shock metamorphism which converted the feldspar to maskelynite the concordance of these ages suggests a single shock event during which the meteorites were in close physical proximity the time of this event is most precisely given by the rb sr age of 180 4 myr for zagami the crystallization ages of the meteorites were not precisely determined extreme upper limits are determined by sm nd model ages relative to an eucrite initial 143nd144nd 0 505835 at 4 6 ae ago these model ages for shergotty zagami and alha77005 are 3600 3500 and 2850 myr respectively the sm nd whole rock age of 1340 60 myr for the three meteorites gives the crystallization age if the sm nd ratios of the precursor materials were always the same we consider this 1340 myr age as a best estimate upper limit best estimate lower limits for shergotty and zagami are taken from the average 39ar 40ar ages of 1200 and 900 myr of pyroxene separates the average 39ar 40ar age of a whole rock sample of alha77005 was 1600 myr and can be partitioned between a low temperature feldspar phase and a high temperature olivine pyroxene inclusions phase the average apparent 39ar 40ar age of the low temperature phase is 1050 myr which is chosen as the best estimate lower limit to the age the crystallization ages of shergotty zagami and alha77005 probably lie within the ranges of 1200 1300 900 1300 and 1000 1300 myr respectively the rb sr whole rock age of 4400 400 myr and single stage babi model ages of 4800 5100 myr are interpreted as reflecting differentiation of the parent body at 4600 myr ago the complex geochemical and isotopic evolution recorded by these meteorites suggests a geologically active parent body capable of sustaining melting at two or more epochs in its history

petrogenesis of the snc shergottites nakhlites chassignites meteorites implications for their origin from a large dynamic planet possibly mars abundances of major minor and trace elements were determined in the whole rock and mineral separates of the two distinct lithologies present in the antarctic achondrite elephant moraine a eeta 79001 via sequential instrumental inaa and radiochemical neutron activation analysis rnaa additional chalcophile siderophile and volatile trace elements are reported for the shergottites alha 77005 shergotty and zagami the rare earth element ree abundances of each of the lithologies of eeta 79001 a and b exhibit chondritic normalized patterns similar to alha 77005 the close relationship of the antarctic shergottites indicates that alha 77005 is a residual source produced by incongruent melting of a source similar in bulk composition to eeta 79001a and that eeta 79001b and the interstitial phases in eeta 79001a are the melts produced by such melting episodes incorporating previous isotopic studies and our chemical data we suggest that either fractionation of or contamination by feldspar could account for the different shergottite sources the large ion lithophile lil trace element abundances of the shergottites require variable but extensive degrees of nonmodal melting of isotopically constrained parent sources the extreme extent of such melting is hypothesized to be represented by alha 77005 as a residual composition derivation of a pre 1 3 ae 109yr fractionation sequence is suggested in which ol ol opx opx cpx and opx cpx plag sequentially produce residual liquids capable of accounting for the precursor sources for the snc meteorites on the basis of chemical isotopic and petrologic considerations we conclude that the snc sources are consistent with their derivation by extensive fractionation of a primitive magma initially produced from a source having chondritic refractory lil trace element abundances fe fe fe mg atomic 0 3 and a mineralogy primarily of ol and pyx our model dependent deductions suggest that this magma could be derived without plagioclase or garnet left in the residuum petrogenetic and age relationships among snc meteorites suggest a single complex provenance on a dynamic planet not unlike the earth considering that each of these meteorites possesses chemical isotopic and petrologic features consistent with data presently available from mars we conclude that a martian origin is quite probable

concordant rb sr sm nd and ar ar ages for northwest africa 1460 a 346 ma old basaltic shergottite related to lherzolitic shergottites abstract multiple lines of evidence show that the rb sr sm nd and ar ar isotopic systems individually give robust crystallization ages for basaltic or diabasic shergottite northwest africa nwa 1460 in contrast to other shergottites nwa 1460 exhibits minimal evidence of excess 40ar thus allowing an unambiguous determination of its ar ar age the concordant rb sr sm nd and ar ar results for nwa 1460 define its crystallization age to be 346 17 ma 2 in combination with petrographic and trace element data for this specimen and paired meteorite nwa 480 these results strongly refute the suggestion by others that the shergottites are 4 1 ga old current crystallization and cosmic ray exposure cre age data permit identification of a maximum of nine ejection events for martian meteorites numbering more than 50 unpaired specimens as of 2008 and plausibly as few as five such events although recent high resolution imaging of the martian surface has identified limited areas of sparsely cratered terrains the meteorite data suggest that either these areas are representative of larger areas from which the meteorites might come or that the cratering chronology needs recalibration time averaged 87rb 86sr 0 16 for the mantle source of the parent magma of nwa 1460 480 over the 4 56 ga age of the planet is consistent with previously estimated values for bulk silicate mars in the range 0 13 0 16 and similar to values of 0 18 for the lherzolitic shergottites initial end for nwa 1460 480 at 350 16 ma ago was 10 6 0 5 which implies a time averaged 147sm 144nd of 0 217 in the martian mantle prior to mafic melt extraction similar to values of 0 211 0 216 for the lherzolitic shergottites these time averaged values do not imply a simple two stage mantle melt evolution but must result from multiple episodes of melt extractions from the source regions much higher late stage end values for the depleted shergottites imply similar processes carried to a greater degree thus nwa 1460 480 the lherzolitic shergottites and perhaps eet 79001 give the best albeit imperfect estimate of the sr and nd isotopic characteristics of bulk silicate mars

petrography mineral chemistry and petrogenesis of antarctic shergottite lew88516 abstract lew88516 lew like its near twin alh77005 alh is a maskelynite bearing harzburgite and a member of the snc family of achondrites lew is texturally heterogenous exhibiting both poikilitic pyroxene oikocrysts enclosing subhedral olivine and euhedral chromite and non poikilitic cumulus framework of olivine and minor pyroxene with interstitial maskelynite and secondary minerals textures pyroxenes in lew appear to be slightly more iron rich and more varied in composition than those in alh lew olivines have distinctly higher fe contents most of the olivine grains in lew have compositions more iron rich than any alh olivine observed lew olivine in non poikilitic areas is substantially more iron rich than olivine armored by pyroxene trace element and minor element patterns of lew and alh minerals are essentially identical and are consistent with closed system large volume crystallization of the major phases followed by development of later phases after assembly of the crystal pile major element compositions show the effects of moderate near solidus re equilibration in both meteorites the compositions of possible lew parent magmas calculated from mass balance methods using the components of magmatic inclusions in large olivine grains are very similar to those proposed earlier for alh and the eeta79001 shergottite while the subtle differences between lew and alh suggest they are not part of the same fall it is likely that they are derived from the same igneous processes

significant seismic anisotropy beneath southern tibet inferred from splitting of direct s waves abstract this study presents a total of 12008 shear wave splitting measurements obtained using the reference station technique applied to direct s waves from 106 earthquakes recorded at 143 seismic stations of the hi climb seismic network the results reveal significant anisotropy in regions of southern tibet where null or negligible anisotropy has been hitherto reported from sk k s measurements while the individual fast polarization direction fpd at each station are found to be consistent the splitting time delays tds exhibit deviations particularly at stations located south of the indus tsangpo suture zone the fast polarization directions fpds are oriented a ne sw to e w to the south of the indus tsangpo suture zone b ne sw to ene ssw between bangong nujiang suture zone and the indus tsangpo suture zone itsz and c e w to the extreme north of the profile the splitting time delays t vary between 0 45 and 1 3 s south of the itsz 0 8 s observed beneath himalaya reveals a complex deformation pattern in the region and can be best explained by the combined effects of deformation related to shear at the base of the lithosphere and subduction related flows with possible contributions from the crust additional measurements obtained using direct s waves provide new constraints in regions with complex anisotropy

petrogenesis of shergottite meteorites inferred from minor and trace element microdistributions abstract as an extension of our previous work on the lherzolitic shergottites alha77005 and lew88516 ion microprobe measurements of rees and other selected trace and minor elements were made in individual minerals of the basaltic shergottites shergotty zagami and eeta79001 whole rock ree abundances in these achondrites are dominated by whitlockite which is usually present only in trace amounts one of the most significant features is the extensive zoning of trace and minor elements in pyroxenes this zonation which provides information on the crystallization histories of these meteorites is of primary magmatic origin and not the result of secondary processes such as diffusive reequilibration and or metasomatic infiltration coherent trends in element element plots for low ca pyroxenes indicate that each shergottite formed essentially by progressive closed system fractional crystallization the calculated ree patterns of the parent melts of all shergottites are lree depleted and parallel to their whole rock ree patterns also indicative of closed system fractional crystallization on the basis of observations reported in this study as well as previously determined petrologic and geochemical including isotopic characteristics we present a model that suggests possible relationships among all five known shergottites

shock metamorphism and petrography of the shergotty achondrite the shergotty subsamples 1 and 12 consist of augite and pigeonite 67 5 maskelynite 24 ilmenite and titanomagnetite 2 pyrrhotite 0 4 whitlockite 1 8 apatite 0 1 quartz 0 5 baddeleyite trace fayalite 0 4 mesostasis 3 and shock induced local polymineralic melt products 0 6 the overall modal composition is similar to other shergotty samples except for the rather high whitlockite content the shock effects observed in the mineral constituents include mosaicism deformation bands planar fractures and mechanical twin lamellae in clinopyroxene isotropization of plagioclase with very rare remnants of birefringence planar deformation structures mosaicism and strongly reduced birefringence in quartz mechanical twinning of ilmenite localized in situ melting of neighbouring minerals at the contact of low and high density phases based on the refractive index of maskelynite average 1 5467 with average an content of 49 and the degree of isotropization of the plagioclase an equilibrium shock pressure of 29 1 gpa is derived the inferred post shock temperature is 200 20 c no heating event could have exceeded 400 c duke 1968 local stress and temperature concentrations reach 60 80 gpa and 1600 2000 c the observed shock effects can be explained by a single shock event a second weaker shock event as found by others appears to be highly improbable equilibrium shock pressures and post shock temperatures for the other known shergottites are 31 2 gpa and 220 50 c zagami 43 2 gpa and 400 800 c alha 77005 the pressure estimate for eeta 79001 by lambert 1985 is confirmed 34 1 gpa the post shock temperature is 250 50 c the abundance and textural setting of localized melt products in these meteorites confirm increasing shock pressures in the sequence shergotty zagami eeta 79001 alha 77005 undoubtedly the melts could have been formed by the same single shock which produced the equilibrium shock effects e g maskelynitization in these meteorites the shock induced particle velocities inferred from hugoniot data of basalts are in the 1 5 2 0 km s range for the parental rocks of the shergottites ejection velocities are therefore in the order of 3 4 km s special ejection mechanisms are required in order to exceed the escape velocity of a planet like mars without producing higher degrees of shock e g melting than those observed in the shergottites

martian crust a modeling approach abstract in this study we use the technique of petrophysical modeling sobolev s v babeyko a yu 1994 modelling of mineralogical composition density and elastic wave velocities in the anhydrous rocks surv geophys 15 515 544 to construct mineralogical density and velocity models of the deep martian crust calculations are performed in two steps first given bulk chemical composition and pt conditions the equilibrium mineralogical composition is calculated by numerical thermodynamic simulation effect of kinetics on mineral transformations was modeled by accepting a freezing temperature second density and velocities are calculated from the mineralogy in computations bulk chemical composition of the crust was accepted to be the average of four basaltic snc meteorites shergotty zagami beta79001 lithologies a and b four various temperature models of the crust were considered with the temperature gradient of 21 13 6 and 2 k km the mineral composition of the consolidated crust varies with depth due to a gabbro eclogite type transition density and velocities increase correspondingly the generally accepted data on the structure of the outer layer of the moon are taken into account in modeling the outer 11 km porous layer of the planet the maximum thickness of the crust was determined from the condition that the density at the crust mantle boundary equals 3 45 3 5 g cm 3 the computations showed that in the case of a cold marsotherm the crustal density at a depth of 60 km ranges from 3 3 to 3 5 g cm 3 and at a depth of 120 km it is 3 5 g cm 3 in the case of a hot marsotherm the density 3 45 g cm 3 is reached at a depth of 150 km 3 5 g cm 3 at a depth of 170 km the consolidated crust may be divided into several zones according to the distribution of density and its seismic wave velocities regions with a high heat flow have a low velocity and density zone in the 10 120 km depth range underlain by a zone of steep gradients of these parameters for small temperature gradients computations yield a qualitatively different picture in the 10 to 30 65 km depth range the density and velocities are approximately constant from 30 65 to 80 120 km follows a zone of steep gradients below velocities and density are nearly constant or slightly decrease down to the crust mantle boundary since density in the lowermost crust exceeds values of 3 5 g cm 3 the lower crust is likely to be gravitationally unstable over geologic time intervals

a discussion of isotopic systematics and mineral zoning in the shergottites evidence for a 180 m y igneous crystallization age abstract proposed igneous and metamorphic ages of the shergottites a suite of achondritic basaltic meteorites are examined in terms of the shergottites petrography and mineral chemistry no metamorphic or hydrothermal event appears capable of resetting the refractory sr and nd isotopic systems of the shergottites since the time of their igneous crystallization the approximately concordant rb sr 180 20 m y and u th pb 190 30 m y internal isochrons are thus interpreted as representing the time of igneous crystallization the sm nd internal isochrons which yield older apparent ages also show large scatter and are regarded as artifacts of the shergottites complex igneous history rubidium sr sm nd and pb pb wholerock isochrons are interpreted as mixing lines and are reasonably attributed to igneous processes such as wall rock assimilation and magma mixing if the shergottites are indeed less than 200 m y old they represent the youngest known extraterrestrial basalts this conclusion is supportive of the hypothesis that the snc meteorites are samples of the planet mars

origin and evolution of the nakhla meteorite inferred from the sm nd and u pb systematics and ree ba sr rb and k abundances analyses of sm nd and u th pb systematics ree ba sr rb and k concentrations were carried out for whole rock and mineral separates from the nakhla meteorite the 1 26 07 b y sm nd age obtained in this work is in good agreement with those previously obtained by the rb sr and ar ar methods the high initial nd value of 16 suggests that nakhla was derived from a light ree depleted old planetary mantle source u th pb data after correction for pre analytical terrestrial pb contamination assuming an age of 1 26 b y suggest that the age of the nakhla source is 4 33 b y the agreement in the age determined by three independent radiometric methods and the high initial nd value strongly suggest that the 1 3 b y age dates one thorough igneous event in the parent body which not only reset these isotopic systems but also established the chemical and petrologic characteristics observed for the nakhla meteorite using a three stage sm nd evolution model in combination with lil element data and estimated partition coefficients we have tested partial melting and fractional crystallization models to estimate lil element abundances in a possible nakhla source our model calculations suggest that partial melting of the light ree depleted source followed by extensive fractional crystallization 50 of the partial melt could account for the ree abundances in the nakhla constituent minerals the estimated source is depleted in the light ree ba rb and k and therefore may resemble the morb source in the earth s upper mantle or the upper 60 300 km of the moon the significantly younger age of nakhla than the youngest lunar rock the young differentiation age inferred from the u th pb data and the estimated lil element abundances including those of k u and th in the source suggest that the nakhla meteorite may have been derived from a relatively large well differentiated planetary body such as mars

mineral chemistry of the shergottites nakhlites chassigny brachina pallasites and urelites the mineral chemistry is compared for selected achondrites olivine in the alha 77005 and eeta79001 shergottites olivine rich chassigny and brachina and the nakhlites contains ni indicative of oxidizing conditions whereas pallasitic and ureilitic olivines contain much lower ni due to reducing conditions the brachina olivine and pyroxene have distinctively higher fe mn than the shergottites and chassigny further indicating that brachina is unique the chassigny and 77005 olivines contain lower cr2o3 0 03 wt than the brachina and 79001 olivines values of fe mn for cumulus augites in nakhlites are higher than for the shergottites whereas those for ferropigeonites are not the 77005 shergottite contains troilite fes in contrast to 79001 shergotty zagami and chassigny which contain pyrrhotite further analyses are needed but the present survey indicates that at least brachina is not chemically cogenetic with the other oxidized achondrites and that the fe mn ratio of the cumulus augites in nakhlites is a problem for the assignment of the nakhlites shergottites and chassigny to a single genetic group

martian meteorite chronology and the evolution of the interior of mars abstract the earth moon and mars are the only three planets for which satellite and ground observations can be confronted with extensive chronological and geochemical observations of rock samples here we use new pb isotope data on shergottites nakhlites chassigny and the alh 84001 orthopyroxenite to reassess chronological evidence and discuss its bearing on the evolution of the interior of mars we find that the depleted shergottites formed at 4 3 ga i e 170 ma after the last equilibration of pyroxene rich cumulates with the magma ocean while the younger enriched and intermediate shergottites as well as alh 84001 formed 200 ma later at 4 1 ga after the residual part of the mantle had been largely mixed back into these cumulates we also demonstrate that the th u ratios inferred from pb isotopes require shergottite ages older than 4 0 ga we finally reexamine the implications of this new chronological framework for the interpretation of 142 nd and 182 w anomalies in martian meteorites we conclude that shergottites represent samples that derived from a volcanic basement subsequently shattered by the 3 9 ga late heavy bombardment lhb although the magmatic activity of mars had strongly declined by the time of the lhb the new chronology of martian meteorites proposed here allows the martian mantle to be convective until today the 1 3 ga old emplacement of nakhlites and chassignites corresponds to decompression melting of ilmenite rich mantle domains and not to renewed global magmatic activity of the planet with the exception of this event the history of the interior of mars therefore somewhat resembles that of the moon

petrography and mineralogy of two basalts and olivine pyroxene spinel fragments in achondrite eeta79001 three lithologies occur in shocked achondrite eeta79001 a1 exotic irregular crystals and clusters of coarse grained olivine fo81 55 cao 0 2 cr2o3 0 06 nio 0 5 wt low ca pyroxene en82wo2 en58wo12 and low ti chromite cr2o3 59 feo 27 tio2 0 7 wt a2 basaltic host to a1 containing pyroxene mainly pigeonite en67wo12 en52wo13 maskelynite an61 55or0 7 high ti chromite some rimming low ti chromite whitlockite minor cl apatite ilmenite pyrrhotite and mesostasis and b a homogeneous basalt containing augite laths en40 50wo25 35 in a matrix of pigeohite augite maskelynite an62 56 or1 2 ulvospinelilmenite intergrowth whitlockite cl apatite and mesostasis mineral compositions indicate an oxidation state similar to that of shergottites lithology a1 represents an unmetamorphosed cumulate that was disrupted and partly resorbed by a basaltic magma incorporation of low ca magnesian pyroxenes and olivine increased the mg fe ratio of the basaltic magma responsible for a2 and resulted in abundant crystallization of pigeonite lithology b was generated from a distinct magma lacking fragments of a1 the parental spinel harzburgite of a1 was not annealed and is probably a near surface igneous cumulate from a shergottite type basalt ringwood and majorite were found in shock veins

sr and nd isotopic systematics of shergotty meteorite abstract strontium and neodymium isotopic measurements are reported on mineral separates whole rock samples and their leachates and residues of shergotty meteorite a very large variation of the sm nd ratio in the phosphates of shergotty is observed two sources of nd are observed which are not mixed completely within shergotty resulting in two ages 1 an apparent age of 147 20 m y from the whole rock leachateresidue nd trend and 2 360 16 m y from a well defined nd isochron of minerals and their leachates and residues about 60 of the sr in the rock resides in the plagioclase and mesostasis and this was reset at 167 m y for the pyroxenes this resetting event had a more complex but also a more localized effect from the general pattern of this resetting a shock event at this time seems possible the 360 m y whole rock leachate residue age in the rb sr isotopic system coincides with the sm nd isochron age we think that the 360 m y age represents the crystallization of shergotty the apparently younger nd age of the phosphates which are indicated by the leaching experiments might be caused by late or post magmatic contamination of the whitlockites with radiogenic nd this same contamination process must also have affected the sr isotopic system the 360 m y crystallization age implies that the plagioclase and phosphates behaved as an open system to the contaminant after the crystallization of the pyroxenes the sr of the contaminant affected both the plagioclase and whitlockite but nd influenced only the whitlockites reflecting the partitioning of sr and nd between these phases the general chemical pattern of this contamination process is different from contamination patterns observed in terrestrial rocks this pattern may represent the finger print of localized fluid rock interaction on mars since a similar trend is observed in other snc meteorites it could indicate that a potassium phase could be a mantle mineral on mars this would have important effects on the chemical evolution of a planet especially in respect to isotopic tracers like ar pb sr

rare earth elements in minerals of the alha77005 shergottite and implications for its parent magma and crystallization history abstract rare earth element ree and selected trace element abundances were measured in individual grains of pyroxenes whitlockite maskelynite and olivine of the alha77005 shergottite minor 1 whitlockite which displays a negative eu anomaly indicative of co crystallization with plagioclase dominates the bulk rock ree pattern detectable ce anomalies in 20 of the pyroxene grains analyzed appear to be the result of weathering in the antarctic environment and indicate that pyroxene is particularly susceptible to element remobilization mineral compositions and textural observations suggest that alha77005 is a cumulate with 50 cumulus material olivine chromite olivine re equilibrated with intercumulus liquid on cooling the intercumulus liquid then crystallized as a closed system to form successively poikilitic low ca and high ca pyroxene followed by interstitial pyroxenes plagioclase whitlockite and other minor phases and reacted with cumulus crystals to form rims of different composition this crystallization sequence provides a constraint on the shergottite source region composition the alha77005 and shergotty intercumulus liquids had similar ree compositions however as opposed to shergotty if alha77005 was formed during the last 0 72 ga its parent melt was not contaminated by lree enriched material

zagami product of a two stage magmatic history abstract large specimens of the zagami shergottite show highly varied grain sizes and mineral abundances on a cm scale and preferred alignment of pyroxene laths we document the presence of whitlockite and of melt veins and pockets of shock origin pyroxene crystals have homogeneous mg rich pigeonite and augite cores overgrown by fe rich zoned pyroxene mostly pigeonite rims amphibole bearing magmatic melt inclusions occur exclusively in the cores we conclude that zagami experienced a twostage crystallization history the first stage occurred in a deep seated slowly cooling magma chamber there the homogeneous mg rich cores of the pyroxenes crystallized during relatively slow cooling the deep seated origin of the cores is also indicated by the presence of amphibole within them which requires pressures of formation equivalent to crystallization at depths 7 5 km on mars modest abundance of homogeneous mg rich cores 15 20 indicates that crystal settling did not play a significant role in this part of the magma chamber during the second stage the mg rich pyroxenes were entrained into a magma that either intruded to the near surface and cooled in a relatively thin dike or sill or extruded to the surface and crystallized in a lava flow 10 m thick again without indications for crystal settling this scenario is suggested by estimates of cooling rates of 0 1 0 5 c h based on sizes of the plagioclase maskelynite crystals and of 0 02 c h based on the width of pyroxene exsolution lamellae brearley 1991 irregular shapes of the mg rich cores result from resorption and possible solid state diffusion and the shapes and sizes of the pyroxenes after crystallization of fe rich pigeonite rims onto the cores were strongly controlled by the shapes and sizes of the cores the finer grained areas of the rock inherited smaller and more numerous mg rich pyroxene cores from the first stage than did the coarser grained areas crystallization of both augite and pigeonite cores at depth but mostly pigeonite rims in the nearsurface environment may be the result of a phase boundary shift and expansion of the pigeonite stability field at lower pressures the estimated depth of the magma chamber for zagami of 7 5 km and thickness of the putative lava flow of 10 m are consistent with calculations and observations of volcanic constructs and flows in the tharsis region of mars

temporal variability of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation at 26 5 n the vigor of atlantic meridional overturning circulation moc is thought to be vulnerable to global warming but its short term temporal variability is unknown so changes inferred from sparse observations on the decadal time scale of recent climate change are uncertain we combine continuous measurements of the moc beginning in 2004 using the purposefully designed transatlantic rapid climate change array of moored instruments deployed along 26 5 n with time series of gulf stream transport and surface layer ekman transport to quantify its intra annual variability the year long average overturning is 18 7 5 6 sverdrups sv range 4 0 to 34 9 sv where 1 sv a flow of ocean water of 106 cubic meters per second interannual changes in the overturning can be monitored with a resolution of 1 5 sv

rare earth element carriers in the shergotty meteorite and implications for its chronology ion probe measurements of the rare earth element ree concentrations of individual grains of the shergotty meteorite are reported phases analyzed include whitlockite apatite baddeleyite augite pigeonite maskelynite and k rich glass u concentrations of whitlockite and apatite crystals were also obtained the whole rock ree pattern is dominated by whitlockite which contains over 95 of the light rare earth elements lree ree concentrations in apatite are much lower than estimated by laulet al 1986 all the whitlockites whether intergrown with pyroxene equant or interstitial have the same relative abundances of lree i e patterns are almost flat from la to sm the observation by joneset al 1985 of a skeletal whitlockite with lree enrichment is not confirmed by analyses of the same grain pyroxene rims are not enriched in lree no leachable carrier enriched in lree and associated with pyroxene laulet al 1986 jagoutz and wanke 1986 has been found instead either a laboratory contamination or a petrographically cryptic phase such as a film on grain boundaries is suspected as the carrier of lree enrichments if a grain boundary film carries the enrichments it would not be resistant to the metamorphic resetting which has affected other isotopic reservoirs in this sample thus there is no compelling reason to consider the sm nd pyroxene leachates line jagoutz and wanke 1986 as a 360 m y isochron estimates of ree abundances in the shergotty intercumulus melt indicate that a complex petrogenesis is required in agreement with the conclusions of mckayet al 1986a pyroxene distribution coefficients measured experimentally mckayet al 1986a are compared with estimates from measured ree abundances in augite and pigeonite evolution of ree abundances in the shergotty late stage interstitial melt as inferred from analyses of whitlockite conforms with trends predicted from partitioning considerations and requires no special processes such as metasomatism the average u concentrations of whitlockite and apatite are respectively 540 and 1 550 ppb although the calcium phosphates are enriched in u they contain less than 20 of the u in shergotty

clinopyroxene ree distribution coefficients for shergottites the ree content of the shergotty melt abstract ree distribution coefficients were measured between synthetic pyroxenes and melts similar in composition to the inferred shergotty intercumulus liquid by in situ analysis with the electron microprobe using samples doped to per cent concentration levels these coefficients exhibit a strong positive correlation with pyroxene wollastonite content recommended values for augites similar in composition to the shergotty cumulus augite cores wo32en48 are d la 0 023 d ce 0 039 d nd 0 10 d sm 0 17 d eu 0 16 d gd 0 20 d yb 0 29 and d lu 0 30 recommended values for pigeonites similar in composition to the shergotty cumulus pigeonite cores wo12en58 are d la 0 002 d ce 0 004 d nd 0 019 d sm 0 031 d yb 0 13 and d lu 0 13 these values resemble distribution coefficients measured for terrestrial basalts of higher mg fe than the shergotty melt rather than those of more evolved siliceous rocks of similar mg fe to the shergotty melt thus it appears that mg fe is considerably less important than other factors in determining distribution coefficient values for pyroxenes ree abundances were computed for the shergotty intercumulus melt using distribution coefficients measured for the natural phase compositions these computed abundances display lree depletion such lree depleted abundance patterns cannot be generated by simple partial melting of a mafic mineral assemblage having the lree enriched patterns required for a two stage sm nd evolution history this result implies that either 1 the melting process was complex e g continuous melting 2 the source region had a more complex history than that of the simple 2 stage model or 3 shergotty does not satisfy the closed system assumption of the calculation and has suffered post magmatic lree enrichment

formation ages and evolution of shergotty and its parent planet from u th pb systematics the isotopic composition of lead was determined in different phases from shergotty zagami and eeta 79001 using phases with low 238 u 204 pb the initial leads of these meteorites could be well defined and are distinct from each other and have high 204 pb 206 pb from 0 0652 to 0 0739 these leads evolved in different reservoirs over most of solar system history in a low 238 u 204 pb 5 environment it follows that the parent planet of the shergottites has a high 204 pb concentration relative to u and must also be high in other volatiles if the parent planet of the shergottites is mars then this planet must be volatile rich compared to the earth by a factor of 1 8 this implies that mars lost its original atmosphere and that the present atmosphere was derived from a previously outgassed martian upper mantle the u th pb isotopic relationships involving phases with high 238 u 204 pb are quite regular and give ages for three shergottites which indicate an event of u th pb fractionation at 200 m y the initial leads at that time were highly evolved relative to the primordial lead the absence of substantial additions of radiogenic lead above the initial lead in high u phases precludes an older age for the u th pb fractionation however details of the data arrays are complex the young age is in general agreement with some of the ages obtained by other methods but precise concordance between the different methods is not established it is suggested that the shock event that produced maskelynite may possibly be associated with the late stage breakup at 2 5 m y and not necessarily related to the 180 m y record the major event of chronometer resetting is taken to be 180 m y this event does not appear to be an endogenic igneous event but an almost complete equilibration during a major impact on more ancient igneous rocks which were contained in the target problems of the polymetamorphic history of meteorites appear as complicated as those of polymetamorphic terrestrial terranes

snc meteorites clues to martian petrologic evolution the shergottites nakhlites and chassigny snc meteorites are apparently cumulate mafic and ultramafic rocks that crystallized at shallow levels in the crust of their parent body the mineralogy and chemistry of these meteorites are remarkably like equivalent terrestrial rocks although their ratios of fe fe mg and certain incompatible elements and their oxygen isotopic compositions are distinctive all have crystallization ages of 1 3 b y or younger and formed from magmas produced by partial melting of previously fractionated source regions isotope systematics suggest that the snc parent body had a complex and protracted thermal history spanning most of geologic time some meteorites have been severely shock metamorphosed and all were ejected from their parent body at relatively recent times possibly in several impact events late crystallization ages complex petrogenesis and possible evidence for a large gravitational field suggest that these meteorites are derived from a large planet trapped gases in shergottite shock melts have compositions similar to the composition measured in the martian atmosphere ejection of martian meteorites may have been accomplished by acceleration of near surface spalls or other mechanisms not fully understood if snc meteorites are of martian origin they provide important information on planetary composition and evolution the bulk composition and redox state of the martian mantle as constrained by shergottite phase equilibria must be more earthlike than most current models planetary thermal models should benefit from data on the abundances of radioactive heat sources the melting behavior of the mantle and the timing of planetary differentiation calculated depletion of chalcophile elements in source regions indicates a core dominated by sulfides and paleomagnetic measurements suggest the presence of a weak magnetic field within the last several hundred thousand years concentrations of volatile elements indicate that the snc parent body was not volatile depleted and trapped atmospheric components measured in shock melts may be useful in understanding planetary degassing by providing comparisons for spectral reflectance data and viking soil analyses these meteorites may also constrain surface mineralogy and weathering mechanisms

new lithologies in the zagami meteorite evidence for fractional crystallization of a single magma unit on mars abstract zagami consists of a series of increasingly evolved magmatic lithologies the bulk of the rock is a basaltic lithology dominated by pigeonite fs 28 7 54 3 augite fs 19 5 35 0 and maskelynite ab 42 53 approximately 20 vol of zagami is a basaltic lithology containing feo enriched pyroxene pigeonite fs 27 0 80 8 and mm to cm sized late stage melt pockets the melt pockets are highly enriched in olivine bearing intergrowths mesostases phosphates both whitlockite and water bearing apatite fe ti oxides and sulfides the systematic increases in abundances of late stage phases fs and incompatible element e g y and the rees contents of pigeonite ab contents of maskelynite and feo concentrations of whitlockite all point to a fractional crystallization sequence the crystallization order in zagami and the formation of these various lithologies was controlled by the abundances of iron phosphorus and calcium during fractional crystallization iron and phosphorus enrichment occurred ultimately forcing the crystallization of calcium phosphates and olivine bearing intergrowths the limited amount of calcium in the melt and its partitioning between phosphates and silicates controlled the crystallization of phosphates plagioclase pigeonite and augite the presence of these feo enriched water poor late stage lithologies has important implications discrepancies between experimental and petrologic studies to infer the history of basaltic shergottites may be partially explained by the use of starting compositions which are too feo poor in the experimental studies the water poor nature of the late stage melt pockets suggests crystallization from a very dry magma although whether this magma was always dry or experienced significant near surface degassing remains an open question finally the presence of fractional crystallization products within zagami suggests that this may be a relatively common process on mars