Exposure age, terrestrial age and pre-atmospheric radius of the Chinguetti mesosiderite: Not part of a much larger mass

We measured the concentrations of the cosmogenic radionuclides 14C (half-life = 5.73 × 103 years) in the bulk and of 10Be (1.5 × 106 years), 26Al (7.05 × 105 years), 36Cl (3.01 × 105 years) and the light noble gases in metal and stone fractions of the Chinguetti meteorite to investigate the controversial claim that the 4.5 kg mesosiderite is part of a much larger mass in the Mauritanian desert. Based on the 36Cl-36Ar, 10Be-21Ne and 26Al-21Ne pairs in the metal fraction, we derive an average cosmic-ray exposure age of 66 ± 7 million years (Ma). Chinguetti is now the third out of 20 mesosiderites with an exposure age between 60 and 70 Ma. This may be the first hint of a major impact on the parent body of the mesosiderites, which show ages ranging from 10–300 Ma (Terribilini et al., 2000). From the 14C-10Be pair we derive a terrestrial age of 18 ± 1 ka, which seems too recent to be consistent with the original description of the main mass having a heavily wind eroded base, overhung by the upper part of the meteorite. Finally, from the radionuclide concentrations in combination with Monte Carlo based calculations, we conclude that our sample of Chinguetti was irradiated at a depth of ~15 cm in an object not larger than 80 cm in radius. This is the most compelling evidence against the reports that the Chinguetti mesosiderite is a small fragment of a mass 100 m long and 40 m high

The Vicência meteorite fall: A new unshocked (S1) weakly metamorphosed (3.2) LL chondrite.

The Vicência meteorite, a stone of 1.547 kg, fell on September 21, 2013, at the village Borracha, near the city of Vicência, Pernambuco, Brazil. It was recovered immediately after the fall, and our consortium study showed it to be an unshocked (S1) LL3.2 ordinary chondrite. The LL group classification is based on the bulk density (3.13 g cm-3); the chondrule mean apparent diameter (0.9 mm); the bulk oxygen isotopic composition (δ17O = 3.768 ± 0.042‰, δ18O = 5.359 ± 0.042‰, Δ17O = 0.981 ± 0.020‰); the content of metallic Fe,Ni (1.8 vol%); the Co content of kamacite (1.73 wt%); the bulk contents of the siderophile elements Ir and Co versus Au; and the ratios of metallic Fe0/total iron (0.105) versus total Fe/Mg (1.164), and of Ni/Mg (0.057) versus total Fe/Mg. The petrologic type 3.2 classification is indicated by the beautifully developed chondritic texture, the standard deviation (~0.09) versus mean Cr2O3 content (~0.14 wt%) of ferroan olivine, the TL sensitivity and the peak temperature and peak width at half maximum, the cathodoluminescence properties of chondrules, the content of trapped 132Xetr (0.317 × 10-8cm3STP g-1), and the Raman spectra for organic material in the matrix. The cosmic ray exposure age is ~72 Ma, which is at the upper end of the age distribution of LL group chondrites. The meteorite is unusual in that it contains relatively large, up to nearly 100 μm in size, secondary fayalite grains, defined as olivine with Fa>75, large enough to allow in situ measurement of oxygen and Mn-Cr isotope systematics with SIMS. Its oxygen isotopes plot along a mass-dependent fractionation line with a slope of ~0.5 and Δ17O of 4.0 ± 0.3‰, and are similar to those of secondary fayalite and magnetite in the unequilibrated chondrites EET 90161, MET 96503, and Ngawi. These data suggest that secondary fayalite in Vicência was in equilibrium with a fluid with a Δ17O of ~4‰, consistent with the composition of the fluid in equilibrium with secondary magnetite and fayalite in other unequilibrated ordinary chondrites. Secondary fayalite and the chondrule olivine phenocrysts in Vicência are not in isotopic equilibrium, consistent with low-temperature formation of fayalite during aqueous alteration on the LL parent body. That alteration, as dated by the 53Mn-53Cr chronology age of secondary fayalite, took place 4.0-1.1+1.4 Ma after formation of CV CAIs when anchored to the quenched angrite D'Orbigny

The CM carbonaceous chondrite regolith Diepenveen.

A carbonaceous chondrite was recovered immediately after the fall near the village of Diepenveen in the Netherlands on October 27, 1873, but came to light only in 2012. Analysis of sodium and poly-aromatic hydrocarbon content suggests little contamination from handling. Diepenveen is a regolith breccia with an overall petrology consistent with a CM classification. Unlike most other CM chondrites, the bulk oxygen isotopes are extremely O-16 rich, apparently dominated by the signature of anhydrous minerals, distributed on a steep slope pointing to the domain of intrinsic CM water. A small subset plots closer to the normal CM regime, on a parallel line 2 parts per thousand lower in delta O-17. Different lithologies in Diepenveen experienced varying levels of aqueous alteration processing, being less aqueously altered at places rather than more heated. The presence of an agglutinate grain and the properties of methanol-soluble organic compounds point to active impact processing of some of the clasts. Diepenveen belongs to a CM clan with similar to 5Ma CRE age, longer than most other CM chondrites, and has a relatively young K-Ar resetting age of similar to 1.5Ga. As a CM chondrite, Diepenveen may be representative of samples soon to be returned from the surface of asteroid (162173) Ryugu by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft

Mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, and chronology of the Murrili (H5) meteorite fall: The third recovered fall from the Desert Fireball Network

Murrili, the third meteorite recovered by the Desert Fireball Network, is analyzed using mineralogy, oxygen isotopes, bulk chemistry, physical properties, noble gases, and cosmogenic radionuclides. The modal mineralogy, bulk chemistry, magnetic susceptibility, physical properties, and oxygen isotopes of Murrili point to it being an H5 ordinary chondrite. It is heterogeneously shocked (S2–S5), depending on the method used to determine it, although Murrili is not obviously brecciated in texture. Cosmogenic radionuclides yield a cosmic ray exposure age of 6–8 Ma, and a pre-atmospheric meteoroid size of 15–20 cm in radius. Murrili’s fall and subsequent month-long embedment into the salt lake Kati Thanda significantly altered the whole rock, evident in its Mössbauer spectra, and visual inspection of cut sections. Murrili may have experienced minor, but subsequent, impacts after its formation 4475.3 ± 2.3 Ma, which left it heterogeneously shocked

Mineralogy, Petrology and Chronology of the Dingle Dell Meteorite

No abstract available

Mineralogy, Petrology and Chronology of the Dingle Dell Meteorite

No abstract available