cenozoic collision of the lesser antilles arc and continental south america and the origin of the el pilar fault it is proposed that the cenozoic tectonic record of the southern lesser antilles arc and northeastern continental south america can be explained by ongoing right oblique collision between the arc and continent the collision has proceeded by the transport of the leading edge of the arc across the slope and outer shelf of a former north facing passive margin of the south american continent the overriding began in the study region near the gulf of cariaco in eastern venezuela in late eocene or oligocene time and has migrated with a generally se vector suturing has occurred between the arc and continent after the attainment of a critical distance of overlap today s point of suturing lies in the paria peninsula east of there overriding continues major tectonic elements engaged in or created by the collision are the southern lesser antilles magmatic arc forearc basin the araya tobago terrane a south american foreland thrust and fold belt and a foreland basin the araya tobago terrane is thought to consist of sediments of south american provenance that were accreted to the lesser antilles forearc during its transit of an ocean basin and the continental slope and outer shelf the emplacement of the magmatic arc and the araya tobago terrane caused tectonic imbrication of shelf strata to propagate ahead of the arc front as a foreland thrust and fold belt tectonic loading of the shelf also caused subsidence of a major foreland basin on the continentward side of the thrust belt it is proposed the el pilar fault exists between the gulf of cariaco and the paria peninsula as an active right slip fault but not east of paria it is not a throughgoing transform fault between the south american and caribbean plates the el pilar fault exists where the overlapping arc and the continent are sutured and takes up a suture parallel component of convergence between arc and continent the eastern tip of the fault propagates east with the point of suturing reconstructions of the cenozoic collision of the lesser antilles arc and the south american continent suggest that the arc lay somewhat north and west of its present position in the eocene this conclusion differs from that of plate reconstructions that assume that the arc was the leading edge of a caribbean plate that has moved east from pacific longitudes since the eocene

seismically active fold and thrust belt in the san joaquin valley central california structural analysis of late cenozoic folds along the western and southern margins of the san joaquin basin suggests that the folds are related to development of a fold and thrust belt rather than to wrench tectonics the folds have formed by the processes of fault bend folding and fault propagation folding which commonly occur in fold and thrust belts our structural interpretation attributes the seismically active coalinga and kettleman hills north dome anticlines to fault bend folding above a thrust fault s that steps up from a detachment within the franciscan assemblage to a detachment at the base of the great valley group this thrust does not reach the surface blind thrust and its slip is consumed in backthrusting and formation of subsurface folds under the san joaquin valley movement on the postulated thrust s would explain the cause of the may 2 1983 coalinga earthquake and the august 15 1985 avenal earthquake and would account for the lack of significant surface rupture or shallow subsurface faulting during both earthquakes well documented examples of fault bend and fault propagation folding also occur at wheeler ridge in the san emigdio mountains and at kettleman hills south dome deformation associated with fold and thrust belts can be extremely complicated considerable fault movement can occur without accompanying surface rupture or shallow level faulting conversely surface rupture can occur that has no direct relationship to fault slip at depth an example would be flexural slip folding wherein the slip planes reach the surface but do not root into any significant faults at depth consequently traditional geologic approaches to seismic risk evaluation which rely largely on surface data are subject to numerous pitfalls when applied to fold and thrust belts our interpretation of the structural style that developed in central california during the late cenozoic requires that the strain associated with the transpressive motion between the pacific and north american plates be resolved into normal and tangential components thrust faulting and folding normal to the plate boundary and strike slip faulting parallel to the plate boundary san andreas fault the thrust faults root in a deecollement at the brittle ductile transition zone above which shortening is associated with folding and thrust faulting and beneath which shortening in the lower crust is accommodated by ductile processes of tectonic thickening or incipient subduction

compositions of large metal nodules in mesosiderites links to iron meteorite group iiiab and the origin of mesosiderite subgroups large mesosiderite metal nodules were studied petrographically and by neutron activation their large sizes minimized the effects of silicate contamination and dilution by fe reduced from feo the remarkable mixture of subequal amounts of metal and basaltic and pyroxenitic silicates in mesosiderites can be explained by the accretion of a core like metal mass from one asteroid onto the surface of another asteroid our data show that the accreted mass had a composition roughly similar to that of the iiiab iron meteorite core consistent with other evidence of close genetic links between these and other related groups the siderophile compositional pattern the very limited compositional range the inferred large projectile target ratio and the electrical interconnectedness of mesosiderite metal indicate that the bulk of the metal was molten when accreted mesosiderites have been divided into plagioclase and tridymiterich subgroup a and orthopyroxene rich subgroup b on the basis of modal silicate mineralogy roughly the same subgroups are defined by metal compositions au as ni and cu are generally higher and w lower in subgroup a than in subgroup b in our sample set a widmanstatten pattern is only observed in nodules from subgroup a a plausible model is that subgroup a best preserves the compositions of the target regolithic silicates and accreted core subgroup b is comprised of these materials together with a minor amount of coremantle materials consisting of olivine and refractory ni poor metal the independent covariation of ga re and ir may in part reflect fractionations during impact heating events the anomalous mesosiderite reckling peak a79015 is strongly depleted in refractory siderophiles and slightly enriched in volatile siderophiles such evolved metal requires a formation distinct from common mesosiderite metal

oxygen isotope studies of carbonaceous chondrites abstract the carbonaceous chondrites display the widest range of oxygen isotopic composition of any meteorite group as a consequence of the interaction of primordial isotopic reservoirs in the solar nebula these isotopic variations can be used to identify the reservoirs and to determine conditions and loci of their interactions we present a comprehensive set of whole rock analyses of cv co ck cm cr ch and ci chondrites as well as selected components of some of these meteorites a simple model is developed which describes the isotopic behavior during parent body aqueous alteration processes the process of thermal dehydration also produces a recognizable effect in the oxygen isotopic composition

zircon trace element chemistry at sub micrometer resolution for tarawera volcano new zealand and implications for rhyolite magma evolution zoned crystals can be important recorders of magmatic processes in space and time however in most situations the temporal dimension is difficult to quantify here we have employed secondary ion mass spectrometry depth profiling to excavate parallel pits into non polished crystal faces of zircon to obtain 5 m resolution u th disequilibrium ages one pit that can be correlated with trace element zoning at sub m resolution derived from a second pit data from 17 crystals representing each of the four rhyolite eruptions of tarawera volcano an intra caldera edifice within the okataina volcanic centre reveal diverse zircon growth conditions over time most crystals display rimward depletions in zr hf and ti broadly consistent with cooling and crystallization however a significant fraction of crystals lacks these patterns and displays rimward trace element variations consistent with isothermal or prograde crystallization oscillatory zonation patterns in y th and u are superimposed on the zr hf and ti trends despite the limited number of crystals analyzed in this way the striking lack of ubiquitous trace element zoning patterns in crystals from the same hand sample implies that fractional crystallization upon cooling was punctuated by magma recharge and crystal mixing affecting different parts of the magma reservoir by combining data from all crystals a systematic change to more heterogeneous trace element abundances is revealed by zircon crystal domains 100 ka prior to caldera formation and is best explained by the post caldera system consisting of small isolated melt pockets that evolved independently an important conclusion is that the zircon cargo in volcanic rocks reflects thermally and compositionally divergent processes that act near simultaneously in a magma storage region and not exclusively the conditions in the eruptible magma

oxygen isotope studies of achondrites abstract oxygen isotope abundances provide a powerful tool for recognizing genetic relationships among meteorites among the differentiated achondrites three isotopic groups are recognized l snc mars 2 earth and moon and 3 hed howardites eucrites diogenites the hed group also contains the mesosiderites main group pallasites and silicates from iiiab irons the angrites may be marginally resolvable from the hed group within each of these groups internal geologic processes give rise to isotopic variations along a slope 1 2 fractionation line as is well known for terrestrial materials variations of 17o from one planet to another are inherited from the inhomogeneities in the solar nebula as illustrated by the isotopic compositions of chondrites and their constituents among the undifferentiated achondrites five isotopic groups are found 1 aubrites 2 winonaites and iab iiicd irons 3 brachinites 4 acapulcoites and lodranites and 5 ureilites the isotopic compositions of aubrites coincide with the earth and moon and also with the enstatite chondrites these bodies apparently were derived from a common reservoir the isotopic composition of which was established at the chondrule scale by nebular processes isotopic similarities between chondrites and achondrites are seen only for the following instances 1 enstatite chondrites and aubrites 2 h chondrites and he irons and 3 l or ll chondrites and iva irons the isotopic data also support the following genetic associations 1 winonaites and iab iiicd irons 2 acapulcoites and lodranites and 3 ureilites and dark inclusions of c3 chondrites an attempt to reconcile the whole planet isotopic compositions of earth mars and the eucrite parent body with mixing models of their chemical compositions failed it is not possible to satisfy both the chemical and isotopic compositions of the terrestrial planets using known primitive solar system components

evolution of southern caribbean plate boundary vicinity of trinidad and tobago two processes oblique collision of an island arc and strike slip motion parallel to the south american coast have been suggested as dominant in the tectonic evolution of the southeastern corner of the caribbean field work in the el pilar fault zone of trinidad and interpretation of offshore seismic data lead us to conclude that the dominant process was strike slip motion on five or more major fault systems within a 250 km wide east west trending plate boundary zone extending north to south from grenada to the mouth of the orinoco river during the last 30 m y movements in this fault zone 1 diverted the orinoco river eastward 2 juxtaposed blocks with diverse stratigraphic characteristics and 3 generated secondary extensional compressional and strike slip str ctures including anticlines of northeast to north northeast trend of which the tobago arch the central range of trinidad and the deformed mud diapirs off the southeastern coast of trinidad are the most prominent

formation of mesosiderites by low velocity impacts as a natural consequence of planet formation mesosiderites are an enigmatic class of stony iron meteorites composed of roughly equal amounts of pyroxenitic and basaltic silicates and metallic iron nickel olivine is rare we suggest here that during the period of planet formation mesosiderites originated by the low velocity collisions of large metallic core fragments with the surface of a differentiated asteroid size body relative velocities of the asteroids native to this region were low 1 km s 1 because it was distant from massive protoplanets however a few differentiated asteroids were destroyed by high velocity collisions with interlopers perturbed by protoplanets into highly eccentric orbits these collisions reduced mantles and crusts to small silicate fragments but left cores in the form of large durable metal fragments mesosiderite like pyroxenite basalt metal mixtures were formed when large core fragments accreted at low velocities to the regolith of an intact asteroid the metal contents of other regolithic regions remained low most of the olivine in mesosiderite and howardite breccias we attribute to the mantles of the disrupted parent bodies the low 12 20 mg g 1 olivine contents indicate that the amount of debris accreted from disrupted asteroids was small relative to the volumes of the regoliths

oxygen isotopic composition and chemical correlations in meteorites and the terrestrial planets recent models attempting to explain non mass dependent oxygen isotopic anomalies in meteorites and planets posit that they may have originated within the gas phase of the solar nebula which suggests the potential for correlations of non mass dependent oxygen isotopic anomalies with other chemical fractionations generated during cooling and condensation of the nebula we have examined three specific issues possible correlations of 17o with i oxidation state ii bulk chondrite chemistry and iii bulk planetary properties isolated grains and chondrules from several carbonaceous chondrite groups exhibit good to weak positive correlations between 17o and olivine fayalite content and whole rock ureilite samples show a positive correlation of 17o with olivine fayalite content these are consistent with oxidation of fe metal by 17o 18o enriched oxygen in the precursor materials that formed these objects in contrast oxygen isotopic and major element compositions of ferromagnesian phases in ordinary chondrite chondrules and in bulk chondrites do not show a correlation thus there is no compelling evidence that oxidation of nebular materials was tightly linked to gas species carrying anomalous o using average chondrite group compositions we demonstrate that significant negative correlations of refractory lithophile element mg and refractory siderophile element ni with 17o exist refractory inclusions cais and aoas are modally rare in many chondrite types that exhibit substantial range in 17o thus the refractory component in these chondrites must occur in a crypto component e g material dissolved in chondrule melts during chondrule formation significant positive correlations of moderately volatile elements mg with 17o are not simply explained by incomplete mixing of 16o enriched refractory grains but are broadly consistent with nebula based mechanisms of non mass dependent oxygen isotope fractionation the estimated compositions of the primitive mantles of the earth mars and 4 vesta have some compositional redox and isotopic properties that vary with heliocentric distance however 17o does not vary monotonically in this sequence indicating a decoupling of planetary o isotopic composition from other compositional characteristics

expected characteristics of cometary meteorites recent developments in our understanding of comets provide insights into the topic of cometary meteorites these developments include the identification of comet asteroid transition objects such as 4015 wilson harrington and 3200 phaethon information on the composition of cometary solids and new ideas on the collisional history of jupiter family comets in this work we revisit this question and we conclude that comets do indeed yield macroscopic meteorites which either have not been found or have not been recognized we also consider the expected characteristics of cometary meteorites with an emphasis on those that may help identify and differentiate them from other types of meteorites if cometary meteorites have preserved the main characteristics of cometary dust the mineralogy would be dominated by highly unequilibrated anhydrous silicates and the chemistry would be nearly chondritic but with a high abundance of c and n on the other hand if an unknown process produced extensive aqueous alteration in the material that formed cometary meteorites they would resemble or could even be ci carbonaceous chondrites we do not expect cometary meteorites to have chondrules so far no single meteorite looks unequivocally cometary however we have identified xenoliths in ordinary chondrite regolith breccias that meet most of our criteria for a cometary origin and deserve further study

the compositional classification of chondrites ii the enstatite chondrite groups we present new data from a neutron activation analysis of four enstatite chondrites including the taxonomically important st sauveur and discuss the classification of enstatite chondrites the enstatite chondrites can be divided into two compositionally distinct sets in one set abundances of nonrefractory siderophiles and moderately volatile chalcophiles and alkalis are 1 5 2 0 higher than in the other a well resolved compositional hiatus separates these two sets the differences in composition are as great as those between the groups of ordinary chondrites and therefore it appears best to treat these sets as separate groups by analogy with the symbols used for ordinary chondrites we propose to designate the high fe high siderophile group eh and the low fe low siderophile group el known members of the eh group belong to petrologic types 4 and 5 whereas all el members are petrologic type 6 within the eh group no correlation is observed between petrologic type and abundance of nonrefractory siderophiles or moderately volatiles or alkalis two physical properties show only modest overlap between the eh and el groups cosmic ray ages for eh chondrites are 0 5 7 ma while those for el chondrites are 4 18 ma relative to bjurbole i xe formation intervals are 1 3 0 6 ma for eh chondrites and 2 9 0 5 ma for el chondrites the weight of the chemical and physical evidence indicates that the eh and el groups formed separate bodies at similar distances from the sun the available evidence for shallowater and happy canyon two strongly recrystallized silicate rich meteorites containing 40 mg g fe ni indicates that the former is an enstatite clan chondrite altered by loss of sulfide and plagioclase rich melts whereas the latter is intermediate in composition between el chondrites and the chondritic silicates in the pine river iab anomalous meteorite

southeastern caribbean sea level variability and viscoelastic relaxation viscoelastic modeling of earthquakes in the southeast caribbean shows that distant dip slip earthquakes in the lesser antilles and the geometry of the subduction zone play a significant role in vertical deformation observed along the southern caribbean plate margin we find that dip slip earthquakes yield vertical displacements that are 1 2 orders of magnitude greater than those generated by strike slip earthquakes along the caribbean south american plate boundary in addition postseismic vertical displacements are at least as great or greater at distances of several hundred kilometers than the coseismic counterpart depending upon the geometry of the source tide gage data from venezuela suggest that these vertical displacement rates may still be observed several decades after the occurrence of large subduction zone earthquakes ms 7 or greater in addition the uplift rate observed at the tide gages largely follows the anticipated flexure of the caribbean plate due to the subduction process

a petrologic study of the iab iron meteorites constraints on the formation of the iab winonaite parent body abstract we have studied iab iron meteorites and their silicate bearing inclusions to elucidate the origin of their parent body we have divided iab irons into five categories which best describe the inclusions and other properties of the irons these are 1 sulfide rich irons such as mundrabilla that contain a significant volume fraction of troilite with or without associated silicates 2 irons with non chondritic silicate inclusions such as basaltic inclusions in caddo county 3 irons with rounded troilite and or graphite inclusions sometimes containing embedded angular silicate inclusions 4 irons with angular silicate inclusions similar to those of the winonaites where silicates may comprise up to 40 vol of the rock and 5 irons with phosphate bearing inclusions such as the brianite bearing iab san cristobal similarities in mineralogy mineral and oxygen isotopic compositions suggest that iab irons and winonaites are almost certainly from a common parent body iiicd irons may also have originated on this parent body although evidence supporting this suggestion is less convincing previous models for the origin of iab irons propose that they are either products of selective impact melting in the megaregoliths of a chondritic asteroid or products of partial melting and fractional crystallization during formation of a sulfur rich core the former model suffers from the fact that impact is incapable of causing preferential melting of metal and sulfide on a large scale and pooling of these selective melts into sizable bodies the latter model does not readily explain the occurrence of often fragmentary angular silicate clasts in a metallic fe ni host we propose a new model for the origin of iab irons that incorporates aspects of both previous models we suggest that a chondritic possibly heterogeneous parent body was heated by a non collisional heat source which caused partial but not complete melting of the body after peak temperatures were reached and cooling and crystallization had begun a major impact catastrophically fragmented this body and the debris gravitationally reassembled scrambling the parent body lithologies we suggest that the impact caused extensive mixing of molten metallic fe ni and solid silicate material resulting in the formation of iab irons with silicate inclusions whereas winonaites represent metamorphosed rocks and partial melt residues of the precursor silicate lithologies high temperatures of some of the reassembled debris and deep burial resulted in continued fractionation and formation of the 2

formation of mesosiderites by fragmentation and reaccretion of a large differentiated asteroid we propose that mesosiderites formed when a 200 400 km diameter asteroid with a molten core was disrupted by a 50 150 km diameter projectile to test whether impacts can excavate core iron and mix it with crustal material we used a low resolution smoothed particle hydrodynamics computer simulation for 50 300 km diameter differentiated targets we found that significant proportions of scrambled core material and hence potential mesosiderite metal material could be generated for near catastrophic impacts that reduce the target to 80 of its original diameter and about half of its original mass the proportion of scrambled core material would be about 5 vol equivalent to 10 vol of mesosiderite like material the paucity of olivine in mesosiderites and the lack of metal poor or troilite rich meteorites from the mesosiderite body probably reflect biased sampling mesosiderites may be olivine poor because mantle material was preferentially excluded from the metal rich regions of the reaccreted body molten metal globules probably crystallized around small cool fragments of crust hindering migration of metal to the core if mantle fragments were much hotter and larger than crustal fragments little metal would have crystallized around the mantle fragments allowing olivine and molten metal to separate gravitationally the rapid cooling rates of mesosiderites above 850 c can be attributed to local thermal equilibration between hot and cold ejecta very slow cooling below 400 c probably reflects the large size of the body and the excellent thermal insulation provided by the reaccreted debris we infer that our model is more plausible than an earlier model that invoked an impact at 1 km s to mix projectile metal with target silicates if large impacts cannot effectively strip mantles from asteroidal cores as we infer we should expect few large eroded asteroids to have surfaces composed purely of mantle or core material this may help to explain why relatively few olivine rich a type and metal rich asteroids m type are known some s type asteroids may be scrambled differentiated bodies

oxygen isotope studies of ordinary chondrites several stages in the evolution of ordinary chondritic meteorites are recorded in the oxygen isotopic composition of the meteorites and their separable components chondrules fragments clasts and matrix the whole rock isotopic compositions reflect the iron group of the meteorite h l or ll isotopic uniformity of h3 to h6 and l3 to l6 are consistent with closed system metamorphism within each parent body ll3 chondrites differ slightly from ll4 to ll6 implying a small degree of opensystem aqueous alteration and carbon reduction on the scale of individual chondrules the meteorites are isotopically heterogeneous allowing recognition of the solar nebular processes of chondrule formation chondrules for all classes of ordinary chondrites are derived from a common population which was separate from the population of chondrules in carbonaceous or enstatite chondrites chondrules define an isotopic mixing line dominated by exchange between 16o rich and 16o poor reservoirs the oxygen isotopic compositions of chondrites serve as fingerprints for identification of genetic association with other meteorite types achondrites and iron and for recognition of source materials in meteoritic breccias

age and spreading history of the cayman trough as determined from depth heat flow and magnetic anomalies the opening of the cayman trough records aspects of relative motion between the north american and caribbean plates essential to accurate reconstruction of caribbean evolution assessment of opening rates based upon basement subsidence analysis as well as magnetic anomaly interpretation shows that the trough may have opened at one third to one half previously proposed rates depths to basement show that the crust has subsided away from the present axis in two stages a younger stage characterized by substantial and asymmetric greater to the east subsidence preceded by an older stage of slight increases of depth with distance depth to age relations calculated from subsidence curves which accommodate lateral as well as vertical cooling of the accreting slab indicate that the trough has opened at an overall rate of less than 15 mm yr since 25 30 ma and at 20 30 mm yr prior to 30 ma marine magnetic anomalies show lineations perpendicular to the trough including a distinct central anomaly but the pattern is neither well defined nor symmetrical about the present axis however partial anomaly sequences can be identified on both sides of the axis and the distribution of these sequences indicates that spreading may have involved frequent short ridge jumps mostly eastward the overall rate of opening as indicated by this interpretation of the magnetics is about 15 and 30 mm yr since and prior to 26 ma both subsidence and magnetics indicate that the trough opened by at least 45 50 ma

impact versus internal origins for mesosiderites mesosiderites are very intimately mixed stony iron breccias including little recrystallized and highly recrystallized varieties i iii and a subgroup iv with melted matrix all mesosiderite breccias contained some material that was hot as indicated by pigeonite that inverted at 1150 c subgroup iv contained silicate and metal liquids at temperatures of at least 1300 c and 1350 c respectively cooling rates are not rigorously defined but are approximately 1 year in the high temperature range and 1 m y below 500 c the latter cooling requires a depth of 40 km in an asteroid with a radius of 400 km or less if porous low conductivity surface material is present cratering with metal projectiles appears incapable of generating mesosiderites a normal impact produces rapidly cooled metal poor breccias impacts on a crust in which metal silicate segregation had taken place could generate stony iron breccias but burial under an insulating blanket would be necessary to obtain slow cooling disruption and reassembly of two colliding bodies and accretion of differentiated planetesimals could form stony iron breccias at depth but as with the previous two models the easiest way to explain the low olivine of mesosiderites is to postulate derivation from olivine poor chondritic material two internal processes turbulent metal crust mixing during core formation and crustal blocks sinking into the core provide a deep location and withhold olivine from the breccia however these mechanisms do not explain how the silicate and metal liquids in subgroup iv otherwise interpreted as impact melt rocks could have failed to segregate in a deep slowly cooled environment no single model for mesosiderite origins is wholly satisfactory

a petrologic and isotopic study of lodranites evidence for early formation as partial melt residues from heterogeneous precursors abstract we have conducted petrologic chemical and isotopic studies of lodranites in an attempt to constrain their genesis lodran gibson y 791491 y 791493 y 74357 y 8002 y 75274 mac 88177 lew 88280 eet 84302 fro 90011 and que 93148 are classified as lodranites lodranites and acapulcoites are indistinguishable on the basis of oxygen isotopic compositions but are distinct in average grain sizes of their mafic silicates with lodranites being significantly coarser grained lodranites exhibit a diverse range of petrologic and mineralogic features they range widely in mafic silicate compositions fa3 13 plagioclase 0 11 4 vol fe ni metal 0 5 20 vol and troilite 0 2 5 3 vol contents and shock levels s1 s4 they appear to have experienced high peak temperatures and rapid cooling in the temperature range recorded by metallographic cooling rates i e 700 350 c the only dated lodranite gibson cooled to ar closure temperatures at 4 49 0 01 ga lodranites formed from chemically and isotopically heterogeneous precursors in which the mineral and oxygen isotopic compositions were correlated heating of their parent body to temperatures between 1050 1200 c resulted in formation of fe ni fes and basaltic partial melts depletions of troilite and or plagioclase in most lodranites testify to the removal of some of these partial melts although melt migration was complex lodranites appear to have experienced a complex cooling history of slow cooling at high temperatures followed by rapid cooling at intermediate temperatures possibly related to breakup of the parent body lodranites were liberated from their parent body during 1 3 impact events with most having cosmic ray exposure ages of 5 5 7 ma the acapulcoites are samples from the same parent body but were heated to lower temperatures and thus experienced lower degrees of partial melting

a petrologic chemical and isotopic study of monument draw and comparison with other acapulcoites evidence for formation by incipient partial melting abstract we have conducted petrologic chemical and isotopic studies of acapulcoites acapulco monument draw yamato 74063 alh a77081 alh a81261 alh a81315 alh 78230 alh a81187 and alh 84190 in an attempt to constrain their genesis acapulcoites have distinctly different oxygen isotopic compositions than silicate inclusions in iab and iiicd irons winonaites and ureilites and thus formed on a different parent body oxygen isotopic compositions which are slightly heterogeneous within the group overlap with lodranites indicating a likely origin on a common parent body these groups can be distinguished on the basis of mafic silicate grain size all acapulcoites have mafic silicate compositions intermediate between e and h chondrites roughly chondritic mineralogies achondritic equigranular textures micrometer to centimeter sized veins of fe ni fes which cross cut silicate phases rapid metallographic cooling rates at 600 400 c 103 105 c myr and trapped noble gas abundances comparable to type 3 4 ordinary chondrites they exhibit variable mafic silicate zoning abundance of fe ni fes veins ree abundances and patterns and possibly cosmic ray exposure ages 5 7 ma momument draw and yamato 74063 retain rare relict chondrules phosphates are associated with fe ni fes veins or form separate veins in monument draw and acapulco heating and cooling of acapulcoites occurred very early in the history of the solar system as evidenced by the 39ar 40ar ages of 4 51 ga these ages appear distinctly younger than the likely formation time for acapulco of 4 557 ga but are older than analogous 39ar 40ar ages for most chondrites acapulcoites formed from a precursor chondrite which differs from known chondrites in mineral and oxygen isotopic compositions heating to 950 1000 c resulted in melting at the fe ni fes cotectic but silicates did not melt silicate textures resulted from extensive solid state recrystallization heating was by noncollisional sources e g 26al electromagnetic induction despite uncertainties owing to a lack of data acapulcoites may have experienced a three stage thermal history of slow cooling at high temperature rapid cooling at intermediate temperatures and slow cooling at low temperatures possibly resulting from breakup and gravitational reassembly of the parent body the complex thermal history is also reflected in disequilibrium ree abundances one or at most two impact events 7 ma and possibly 5 ma ago are consistent with the cosmic ray exposure ages of all four acapulcoites for which cosmogenic noble gas data exist

oxygen isotopic compositions of enstatite chondrites and aubrites oxygen isotopic compositions have been measured for ten eh chondrites eight el chondrites and nine aubrites the mean 18o and 17o values are 5 31 and 2 74 5 57 and 2 96 5 24 and 2 70 respectively within the eh group more equilibrated meteorites are fractionated toward higher heavy isotope abundances than the less equilibrated meteorites small departures of individual meteorites from a common mass fractionation occur for some of the eh samples the aubrites may be genetically related to either the eh or el group or to both almost all of the measured isotopic compositions are indistinguishable from the terrestrial oxygen isotope fractionation line suggesting a genetic relationship among the earth the moon and the enstatite the meteorites

a new metal rich chondrite grouplet abstract a new grouplet of primitive metal rich chondrites here called the cb c carbonaceous b bencubbinite chondrites has been recognized it includes bencubbin weatherford hammadah a1 hamra hh 237 and queen alexandra range que 94411 paired with que 94627 their mineral compositions as well as their oxygen and nitrogen isotopic compositions indicate that they are closely related to the cr and ch chondrites all of which are members of the more inclusive cr clan cb chondrites have much greater metal silicate ratios than any other chondrite group widely increasing the range of metal silicate fractionation recorded in solar nebular processes they also have the greatest moderately volatile lithophile element depletions of any chondritic materials metal has compositional trends and zoning patterns that suggest a primitive condensation origin in contrast with metal from other chondrite groups cb chondrites as well as other cr clan chondrites have much heavier nitrogen higher 15n 14n than that in other chondrite groups the primitive characteristics of the cb chondrites suggest that they contain one of the best records of early nebular processes another chondrite grosvenor mountains 9555 1 is petrographically similar to the cb chondrites but its mineral and oxygen and nitrogen isotope compositions indicate that it formed from a different nebular reservoir

partial melting and melt migration in the acapulcoite lodranite parent body we review petrologic evidence that the acapulcoites and lodranites formed by 1 vol to probably 20 vol whole rock partial melting of a chondritic precursor material at low degrees of partial melting only fe ni fes cotectic melting occurred migration distances for partial melts were short resulting in the formation of acapulcoites with essentially chondritic troilite and plagioclase contents but achondritic textures at high degrees of partial melting both fe ni fes and basaltic plagioclase pyroxene partial melts formed and the melts may have migrated out of the source rock the partial melt residues which are more or less depleted in fe ni fes and plagioclase are the lodranites melt migration was complex most acapulcoites which experienced relatively low degrees of partial melting lost little if any of the partial melt one acapulcoite lew 86220 represents a unique case in which fe ni fes and basaltic partial melts appear to have migrated from a lodranite source region into a cooler acapulcoite region where they were trapped in cases of the relatively high degrees of partial melting experienced by lodranites melts may have been partly selectively or totally removed from the rocks and fe ni fes and or basaltic partial melts may have been removed to different degrees and may in fact have been trapped on occasion in greater than chondritic proportions we model vein and dike formation and melt migration by calculating the excess pressures and vein and dike sizes for varying degrees of partial melting our calculations are broadly consistent with observations indicating that melt migration is inefficient at low degrees of partial melting and extremely efficient at high degrees of partial melting although the size of the acapulcoite lodranite parent body and the volatile contents of the chondritic precursor rocks are poorly constrained the lack of basaltic rocks in the world s meteorite collections complementary to the lodranites suggests that basaltic partial melts may have been accelerated off the body by explosive volcanism of the type envisioned by wilson and keil 1991 and ejected into space the diversity of rocks from the acapulcoite lodranite parent body may provide a basis for better understanding the diverse range of spectral subtypes recognized among the s type asteroids

brachinites igneous rocks from a differentiated asteroid we have done petrologic studies of brachinites allan hills alh 84025 elephant moraine eet 99402 and eet 99407 bulk geochemical studies of eet 99402 and eet 99407 ar ar studies of brachina and eet 99402 and a xe isotopic study of brachina textural mineral compositional and bulk compositional evidence show that eet 99402 and eet 99407 are paired alh 84025 eet 99402 and eet 99407 have igneous textures petrofabric analyses of alh 84025 and eet 99407 demonstrate the presence of lineations and probable foliations of olivine grains that support formation as igneous cumulates mineral minor element chemistry and bulk rock incompatible lithophile element contents of the brachinites are distinct from those of acapulcoite lodranite clan meteorites a suite of high grade metamorphic rocks and anatectic residues the differences demonstrate a higher blocking temperature of equilibration for the brachinites and that cumulus plagioclase is present in eet 99402 eet 99407 and probably alh 84025 thus indicating an igneous origin brachinites are differentiated ultramafic achondrites and are not part of a suite of primitive achondrites we infer that their parent asteroid is a differentiated body brachina has an excess of 129xe correlated with reactor produced 128xe demonstrating that short lived 129i was present at the time of formation this plus literature data attests to early formation of the brachinites within a few ma of the formation of chondrites ar ar age data show that brachina and eet 99407 were degassed about 4 13 ga ago possibly by a common impact event eet 99402 and eet 99407 show petrographic evidence for shock including possible conversion of plagioclase to maskelynite followed by devitrification brachina is unshocked making a direct association between the ar ar age and textures ambiguous

classification of mafic clasts from mesosiderites implications for endogenous igneous processes we have analyzed thirteen igneous pebbles from the vaca muerta eet87500 and bondoc mesosiderites by electron microprobe and instrumental neutron activation and combined these data with literature data for forty three analyzed mesosiderite clasts we classify these well characterized clasts into the following five principal groups 1 1 polygenic and monogenic cumulates 39 are coarse grained gabbros that are highly depleted in incompatible elements relative to h chondrites they formed at moderate depth either as residues of low degree partial melting of pre existing cumulate eucrites or as cumulates from parent melts similar to cumulate eucrites 2 2 polygenic basalts 30 are finer grained rocks with positive europium anomalies la lu ratios 1 and lower rare earth element abundances than basaltic eucrites it seems likely that these rocks were formed near their parent body surface by remelting mixtures of major amounts of basaltic eucrites and lesser amounts of cumulate eucrites 3 3 quench textured rocks comprise two compositional groups a those which resemble basaltic eucrites 5 and b those which resemble cumulate eucrites 2 the quench textured rocks are probably monogenic they formed most likely when small scale impacts at their parent body surface totally melted small amounts of basaltic or cumulate eucrite material 4 4 monogenic basalts 11 resemble basaltic eucrites and formed by endogenous igneous processes on the mesosiderite parent body mpb the monogenic basalts and those quench textured rocks that resemble basaltic eucrites in composition plot subparallel to the nuevo laredo trend eucrites on diagrams of incompatible element concentration vs mg previous work has shown that the nuevo laredo trend eucrites were probably produced by fractional crystallization it seems likely that the monogenic basalts from the mpb had a similar origin 5 5 ultramafic rocks are cumulates consisting mainly of large crystals of orthopyroxene 9 or olivine 4 orthopyroxenite clasts closely resemble diogenites and were formed most likely by endogenous igneous processes olivine crystals vary significantly in major element composition some may be endogenous but others may have been derived from the disrupted mantle of a different parent body

a comparative study of opaque phases in qingzhen eh3 and macalpine hills 88136 el3 representatives of eh and el parent bodies opaque minerals in the qingzhen eh3 and macalpine hills mac 88136 el3 enstatite chondrites were studied and compared with other eh and el chondrites all opaque minerals usually occur in multi sulfide metal clasts and nodules in the matrix between chondrules el goresy et al 1988 the higher abundance of opaque minerals the occurrence of niningerite and various alkali sulfides e g caswellsilverite phases a and b djerfisherite are diagnostic criteria for eh chondrites while alabandite is characteristic for el chondrites in addition eh chondrites are characterized by enrichments of si in both kamacite and perryite and alkali elements in sphalerite and chalcopyrite the mn contents of daubreelite and sphalerite are lower in eh than in el chondrites these are consistent with lower oxygen fugacity and higher h2s fugacity of eh than el chondrites in contrast the discovery of sphalerite and zn rich daubreelite in mac 88136 indicates that their absence in el6 chondrites is probably related to thermal metamorphism in the parent body schreibersite microspherules are commonly enclosed in most sulfides in qingzhen but are absent in mac 88136 they were once molten and probably predated all sulfide host phases the petrographic setting and chemical compositions of the sulfide hosts of the schreibersite microspherules in eh3 chondrites are consistent with formation by condensation the earliest sulfide condensates oldhamite and niningerite occupy the interiors of the clasts and nodules whereas the rims consist of troilite and djerfisherite in addition in qingzhen some other troilite djerfisherite and sphalerite assemblages coexist with perryite they were produced by sulfurization of metallic fe ni in the nebula in mac 88136 sulfurization of si bearing fe ni metal is less pronounced and it produced troilite schreibersite and less abundant perryite two kinds of normal zoning and a reverse zoning trends of niningerite and both normal and reverse zoning of sphalerite were found in clasts and nodules in qingzhen the coexistence of normal and reverse zoning profiles in niningerite grains in the same meteorite strongly suggests that they formed before accretion in the parent body because an asteroidal metamorphic or an impact event in the parent body would have erased these contrasting profiles and destroyed the textural settings in contrast alabandite in mac 88136 shows only normal zoning with the fes content decreasing to 9 3 mol toward troilite indicating very slow cooling at low temperature

the k kakangari chondrite grouplet abstract the kakangari lew 87232 and lea co 002 chondrites have a similar set of petrologic and oxygen isotopic characteristics that distinguishes them from other chondrite groups they are here established to constitute a single chondrite grouplet the k after kakangari chondrites the k chondrites have 1 high matrix abundances 33 77 vol as do carbonaceous chondrites 2 metal abundances 6 10 vol that are similar to the h group ordinary chondrites 3 average mafic silicate compositions average kakangari olivine fa2 2 enstatite fs4 4 that indicate an oxidation state intermediate between h and e chondrites 4 matrix that differs from that in other chondrite groups in being enstatite rich with compositions more mg rich average fs3 than those in the chondrules 5 refractory lithophile element abundances

allan hills 85085 a subchondritic meteorite of mixed nebular and regolithic heritage abstract allan hills 85085 is a tiny 12 g meteorite whose closest relatives are the renazzo and al rais chondrites and the subchondritic host material in the bencubbin meteorite its bulk composition is generally chondritic but siderophile abundances are tens of per cent higher and abundances of moderately volatile elements factors of 2 4 lower than in known authentic chondrites in addition to this unusual composition alh85085 has an extremely small particle size metal that shows no evidence of metamorphic equilibration and a very high abundance of pyroxenitic lithic particles chondrules are rare and small most are pyroxenitic and chemically similar to the lithic particles previous workers have inferred that most or all of these strange features of alh85085 resulted from nebular processes but we suggest that melting vaporization outgassing condensation and size sorting in a cloud of impact ejecta offer a more viable alternative until additional similar materials have been discovered and characterized it seems safest to infer nebular properties and processes on the basis of the record in chondrites regarding which there is little doubt that nebular processes were dominant

formation of ureilites by nebular processes oxygen isotopic data are presented for 23 ureilites including 14 antarctic meteorites they show a much greater range in isotopic composition than those previously studied most noteworthy is the fact that unlike other achondrite groups the ureilites do not fall on a mass dependent isotopic fractionation trend but rather fall along an extrapolation of the 16o mixing line defined by components of allende and other c3 chondrites correlations between isotopic and chemical data imply that the isotopic and chemical variations are due primarily to processes in the solar nebula and not to igneous processes within a parent body the ureilite parent body accreted with isotopic and chemical heterogeneities which were not much modined by subsequent parent body processes the precursor materials were related in some way to the c3 carbonaceous chondrites

a nonmagmatic origin of group iie iron meteorites abstract new neutron activation data on 10 elements in 12 iie and iie related irons lead to a reclassification of several irons seymchan and lonaconing are removed from iie and leshan added four iie members are designated iie an to call attention to some anomalous properties the eight normal iie members define element ni trends generally similar to those in the nonmagmatic group iab the small negative slopes on w ni and ir ni diagrams are strongly indicative of a nonmagmatic origin of the iie irons we propose that iie irons like iab irons originated as individual pools of impact produced melt in the near surface region of a chondritic parent body the positive as ni and au ni trends are the only evidence suggesting fractional crystallization but their slopes are lower than those in magmatic group iiiab and only slightly higher than those of cu and sb in iab we suggest that the s and c contents of the iie precursor materials were much lower than those of the iab precursors thus higher temperatures were required to generate enough metallic melt to segregate into pools these higher temperatures are also reflected in the nonchondritic compositions of the silicate inclusions

chemical classification of iron meteorites xi multi element studies of 38 new irons and the high abundance of ungrouped irons from antarctica abstract we report concentrations of 14 elements in the metal of 38 iron meteorites and a pallasite the meteorites are classified based on these data and on structural observations three samples are paired with previously classified irons thus these additional 35 irons raise the number of well classified independent iron meteorites to 598 one yamato iron contains 342 mg g ni the second highest ni content in an iab iron after oktibbeha county two small irons from western australia appear to be metal nodules from mesosiderites several of the new irons are from antarctica of 24 independent irons from antarctica 8 are ungrouped the fraction 0 333 is much higher than the fraction 0 161 among all 598 classified irons statistical tests show that it is highly improbable 2 9 probability that the antarctic population is a random sample of the larger population the difference is probably related to the fact that the median mass of antarctic irons is about two orders of magnitude smaller than that of non antarctic irons it is doubtful that the difference results from fragmentation patterns yielding different size distributions favoring smaller masses among ungrouped irons more likely is the possibility that smaller meteoroids tend to sample a larger number of asteroidal source regions perhaps because small meteoroids tend to have higher ejection velocities or because small meteoroids have random walked a greater increment of orbital semimajor axis away from that of the parent body

petrologic geochemical and experimental constraints on models of chondrule formation abstract the petrologic and geochemical properties of chondrules as well as results of experimental studies provide strong constraints on chondrule formation models nebular formation is indicated by the non mass fractionated oxygen isotopic compositions of bulk chondrules chondrule formation from a melt is required by the prototypical spheroidal shapes and the presence of euhedral phenocrysts and glassy mesostases incomplete melting is indicated by the abundance of porphyritic chondrules which experiments demonstrate require relict nuclei and coarse relict grains the length of time that chondrules were hot is constrained by their retention of relict grains and moderately volatile elements rapid cooling of chondrules after formation is supported by the presence of zoned phenocrysts isotopic anomalies and dynamic crystallization experiments it is clear from the presence of relict grains enveloping compound chondrules and igneous rims that many chondrules were heated again after cooling the heating mechanism responsible for chondrule formation seems to have operated at varying intensities over large regions of the inner solar nebula for at least the time it took ambient nebular temperatures to cool from above 900 to below 600 k the chondrule formation mechanism provided a repeatable source of energy capable of highly localized melting characteristic of flash heating the occurrence of ferroan microchondrules with low melting temperatures within some chondrule rims indicates that chondrule formation did not occur exclusively in high temperature regions near the sun as required in bipolar outflow models mechanisms for forming chondrules that are consistent with the constraints include various flash heating models nebular lightning magnetic reconnection flares gas dynamic shock waves and radiative heating

acapulco and lodran like achondrites petrology geochemistry chronology and origin we have performed petrologic and geochemical studies of five primitive achondrites alha81187 and alha81261 acapulco like eet 84302 transitional but acapulco like and lew 88280 and mac 88177 lodran like we have also performed 39ar 40ar chronology on alha81187 alha81261 and eet 84302 lew 88280 and mac 88177 contain more ferroan olivines orthopyroxenes clinopyroxenes and chromites than do the acapulco like achondrites plagioclase is present in only alha81187 alha81261 and eet 84302 its composition does not track that of the mafic silicates eet 84302 with the most calcic plagioclase contains olivine and pyroxene with an mg intermediate between alha81187 and alha81261 similarly spinels in eet 84302 have the same mg as those in alha81187 while pyroxenes in the former are more ferroan than in the latter acapulco like achondrites have sm sc ratios between 0 8 1 5 times h chondrites and na sc ratios are between 0 81 0 times h chondrites indicating that silicate partial melts have not been lost from these rocks siderophile and chalcophile elements are fractionated and show a trend of increasing ir ni ratios with decreasing se co ratios this variation is consistent with fractionation by partial melting in the fe ni s system eet 84302 is very depleted in se and troilite is a accessory phase indicating essentially total loss of the low temperature fe ni s melt in contrast the lodran like achondrites are depleted in the highly incompatible lithophile elements relative to more compatible elements sm sc ratios are 0 2 0 7 times and na sc ratios are 0 04 0 18 times h chondrites these data are consistent with a model for formation of the lodran like achondrites as partial melting residues however the low ir ni and high se co ratios in two lodran like achondrites suggest the metal troilite in these rocks is dominated by the low melting fraction in the fe ni s system this metal troilite was added to the silicates after partial melting depleted them in a basaltic fraction the ar ar release spectra yield good plateau ages of 4 507 0 024 ga alha81187 4 511 0 007 ga alha81261 and 4 519 0 017 ga eet 84302 in good agreement with previously determined ar ar ages for other acapulco like achondrites together the ar ar ages demonstrate that metamorphism on the acapulco lodran parent body occurred 4 51 0 02 ga ago roughly 50 ma after its formation the geochemical and petrologic evidence on the acapulco and lodran like achondrites suggest that heating on the parent body was localized and heterogeneous in space and time the parent body was probably not subjected to parent body wide magmatism in contrast to the case for 4 vesta and the hed meteorites

the compositional classification of chondrites vii the r chondrite group bulk compositional and petrographic data clearly define the new r rumuruti group of chondrites consisting of rumuruti the only fall alh85151 acfer 217 carlisle lakes dar al gani 013 pca91002 pca91241 y 75302 y 793575 and y 82002 compositional petrographic rare gas and 0 isotopic data strongly suggest that pca91002 and pca91241 are paired the yamato specimens are probably not paired the matrices of the known r chondrites have experienced similar minor degrees of metamorphism petrographic types are 3 8 3 9 with the exception of alh85151 3 6 all except carlisle lakes contain equilibrated r5 r6 clasts petrographically the r chondrites are characterized by a low chondrule matrix modal abundance ratio high states of oxidation reflected by abundant nio bearing olivine with fa37 40 relatively small chondrules mean apparent diameters of 400 abundant up to 11 wt sulfides mainly pyrrhotite and pentlandite and negligible amounts of metallic fe ni refractory lithophile abundances are 0 95 x cl intermediate between those in ordinary chondrites oc and ci chondrites abundances of the volatile elements se and zn are greatly enhanced relative to oc the r chondrites are clearly distinguished from other chondrite groups on the basis of al mn and zn mn abundance ratios the oxygen isotopic data plot roughly along a slope 12 line with whole rock 17o values higher than for any other chondrite group rumuruti acfer 217 alh85151 pca91002 and pca91241 have light dark structures and solar wind implanted rare gases indicating that they are regolith breccias the yamato specimens also have light dark structures and are inferred to be regolith breccias carlisle lakes lacks solar rare gases and is unbrecciated based on similarities in refractory lithophile abundances 00 95 x ci oxygen isotope compositions 17o 0 and refractory inclusion abundances 0 1 vol none have been reported the r chondrites probably belong to a noncarbonaceous superclan of chondrites that also includes ordinary and enstatite chondrites the high oxidation state high matrix chondrule modal abundance ratio relatively low abundance of droplet chondrules and high 17o composition suggest that the r chondrites formed at greater heliocentric distances than the oc

paucity of sulfide in a large slab of esquel new perspectives on pallasite formation the 0 7 ton esquel meteorite found in patagonia before 1951 is a typical main group pallasite in most respects we examined petrographically a slab 1 m long having an area of 3000 cm2 that shows the typical pallasitic texture with fragmental olivine phase abundances in vol are olivine 66 metal 32 schreibersite 0 76 troilite 0 46 and chromite 0 31 esquel can be divided into four lithologies 1 pallasitic matrix consisting of olivine fragments embedded in metal 81 2 large 5 cm olivine nodules having low metal contents 18 3 massive metal 0 3 and 4 zones dominated by fes and fine olivine 0 7 main group pallasites appear to have formed by the intrusion of a highly evolved low ir high ni au and s metallic magma into fragmented olivine this model implies that fes should be abundant in main group pallasites and we had speculated that examination of an exceptionally large slab might reveal a high troilite content we found instead an exceptionally low fes content new compositional data confirm that esquel has a lower au content than other main group pallasites having similar ir contents literature data based however on relatively small sections suggest that high au pallasites have higher s contents than esquel but have lower s contents than expected from a trapped melt model we conclude that a relatively complex model is required to explain the origin of main group pallasites after intrusion the degree of crystallization of the metallic magma varied from location to location but in almost all cases an fes rich liquid either escaped or formed fes rich pallasitic rocks that are underrepresented in the meteorite inventory

tectonic evolution of the caribbean the development of the caribbean is discussed in terms of modern tectonic theory the nature of the site on which the caribbean formed is examined and the development of the rifted margins of the caribbean is described constraints on caribbean evolution from the relative motions of north and south america are briefly examined and the caribbean oceanic plateau is discussed the great island arc system of the caribbean is addressed in detail emphasizing the way the great arc of the caribbean was segmented the role of central america in caribbean history is briefly considered

formation of metal and silicate globules in gujba a new bencubbin like meteorite fall gujba is a coarse grained meteorite fall composed of 41 vol large kamacite globules 20 vol large light colored silicate globules with cryptocrystalline barred pyroxene and barred olivine textures 39 vol dark colored silicate rich matrix and rare refractory inclusions gujba resembles bencubbin and weatherford in texture oxygen isotopic composition and in having high bulk 15n values 685 the 3he cosmic ray exposure age of gujba 26 7 ma is essentially identical to that of bencubbin suggesting that they were both reduced to meter size fragments in the same parent body collision the gujba metal globules exhibit metal troilite quench textures and vary in their abundances of troilite and volatile siderophile elements we suggest that the metal globules formed as liquid droplets either via condensation in an impact generated vapor plume or by evaporation of preexisting metal particles in a plume the lower the abundance of volatile elements in the metal globules the higher the globule quench temperature we infer that the large silicate globules also formed from completely molten droplets their low volatile element abundances indicate that they also formed at high temperatures probably by processes analogous to those that formed the metal globules the coarse grained bencubbin weatherford gujba meteorites may represent a depositional component from the vapor cloud enriched in coarse and dense particles a second class of bencubbin like meteorites represented by hammadah al hamra 237 and que 94411 may be a finer fraction derived from the same vapor cloud

a petrologic and isotopic study of winonaites evidence for early partial melting brecciation and metamorphism we have conducted detailed petrologic chemical and isotopic studies of winonaites to ascertain the genesis of this group of meteorites winonaites have reduced mineral compositions and mineralogy and oxygen isotopic compositions distinct from primitive achondrite groups other than silicate inclusions in iab and iiicd irons however winonaites differ from iab and iiicd irons in that they lack the metallic matrices of the latter and consist mostly of silicates on the basis of these criteria winona mount morris wisconsin tierra blanca pontlyfni y 74025 y 75300 y 8005 and que 94535 are winonaites and y 75305 and y 75261 may be winonaites winonaites are fine to medium grained mostly equigranular rocks pontlyfni and mount morris wisconsin contain what appear to be relict chondrules several winonaites contain mm sized areas that differ substantially in grain size and or silicate mineralogy from the surrounding matrix fe ni fes veins are common in many winonaites mineral compositions are intermediate between e and h chondrites and reduced sulfides are observed in low feo winonaites bulk major element compositions are roughly chondritic although ree elements are fractionated the 39ar 40ar ages of three winonaites range from 4 40 ga mount morris wisconsin to 4 54 ga pontlyfni cosmic ray exposure ages are 20 80 ma trapped noble gases in these winonaites resemble those in enstatite chondrites we suggest that the winonaites formed from a chondritic precursor material unlike that of known chondrites in mineral and oxygen isotopic compositions and this material may have been heterogeneous in composition extensive heating caused metamorphism and partial melting of both fe ni fes and silicate material impact brecciation during cooling mixed lithologies with different thermal histories and subsequent metamorphism produced recrystallization grain growth and reduction of mafic silicates the 39ar 40ar ages indicate that cooling may have been more rapid than observed in iab irons although later resetting may have occurred

petrology and geochemistry of d orbigny geochemistry of sahara 99555 and the origin of angrites petrology and geochemistry of d orbigny geochemistry of sahara 99555 and the origin of angrites

appendix meteorites a brief tutorial there are four broad categories of meteorites chondrites achondrites irons and stony irons these are subdivided into meteorite groups the basic unit of meteorite classification although no formal guideline is in place for the minimum number of meteorites needed to define a group common practice is that there should be five or more members in a group a defined meteorite group is thought to be derived from a single asteroid however some groups are genetically related and are derived from a common parent asteroid chondrites are primitive stony meteorites rocks whose compositions are little changed since their formation in the solar nebula there are fourteen defined groups of chondrites and they make up the vast majority of meteorites falling to earth in the current epoch achondrites are stony meteorites of two broad types some are primitive materials like chondrites but most are the products of igneous differentiation there are ten defined groups of achondrites of which seven are differentiated types irons are also the products of asteroidal differentiation having crystallized from metallic melts separated from chondritic precursors there are thirteen defined groups of iron meteorites stony irons are also differentiated materials and both the rocky and metallic phases were formed by igneous processes on asteroids there are two defined groups of stony iron meteorites in addition to those that fit into groups there are many meteorites that are unique or for which there are less than five examples these ungrouped meteorites make up a substantial fraction of meteorites recovered to date

the iab iron meteorite complex a group five subgroups numerous grouplets closely related mainly formed by crystal segregation in rapidly cooling melts abstract we present new data for iron meteorites that are members of group iab or are closely related to this large group and we have also reevaluated some of our earlier data for these irons in the past it was not possible to distinguish iab and iiicd irons on the basis of their positions on element ni diagrams but we now show that plotting the new and revised data yields six sets of compact fields on element au diagrams each set corresponding to a compositional group the largest set includes the majority 70 of irons previously designated ia we christened this set the iab main group the remaining five sets we designate subgroups within the iab complex three of these subgroups have au contents similar to the main group and form parallel trends on most element ni diagrams the groups originally designated iiic and iiid are two of these subgroups they are now well resolved from each other and from the main group the other low au subgroup has ni contents just above the main group two other iab subgroups have appreciably higher au contents than the main group and show weaker compositional links to it we have named these five subgroups on the basis of their au and ni contents the three subgroups having au contents similar to the main group are the low au l subgroups the two others the high au h subgroups the ni contents are designated high h medium m or low l thus the old group iiid is now the slh subgroup the old group iiic is the slm subgroup in addition eight irons assigned to two grouplets plot between sll and slm on most element au diagrams a large number 27 of related irons plot outside these compact fields but nonetheless appear to be sufficiently related to also be included in the iab complex many of these irons contain coarse silicates having similar properties most are roughly chondritic in composition the mafic silicates show evidence of reduction during metamorphism in each case the silicate o isotopic composition is within the carbonaceous chondrite range 17o 0 3 in all but four cases these are within the so called iab range 0 30 17o 0 68 fine silicates appear to be ubiquitous in the main group and low au subgroups this requires that viscosities in the parental melt reached high values before buoyancy could separate these the well defined main group trends on element au diagrams provide constraints for evaluating possible models we find the evidence to be most consistent with a crystal segregation model in which solid and melt are essentially at equilibrium the main arguments against the main group having formed by fractional crystallization are a the small range in ir and b the evidence for rapid crystallization and a high cooling rate through the iron stability field the evidence for the latter are the small sizes of the iron crystals parental to the widmanstatten pattern and the limited thermal effects recorded in the silicates including retention of albitic plagioclase and abundant primordial rare gases in contrast crystal segregation in a cooling metallic melt and related processes such as incomplete melting and melt migration can produce the observed trends in the main group we infer that this melt was formed by impact heating on a porous chondritic body and that the melt was initially hotter than the combined mix of silicates and metal in the local region the melt cooled rapidly by heat conduction into the cooler surroundings mainly silicates we suggest that the close compositional relationships between the main group and the low au subgroups are the result of similar processes instigated by independent impact events that occurred either at separate locations on the same asteroid or on separate but compositionally similar asteroids