Visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy of the Yamato 980459 meteorite in comparison with some shergottites

Abstract

Visible and near-infrared reflectance spectrum of a sample of Yamato (Y) 980459 meteorite has been measured. Preliminary analyses of the spectrum have been performed using the modified Gaussian model, and the results have been compared with those of similar analyses of some shergottites and tricomponent mixtures of olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase. They suggest that Y980459 has lower Fe and/or Ca concentration in pyroxene phase except its high-Ca pyroxene having similar Fe/Ca concentration to EETA79001 (Lithology A), lower pyroxene abundance, and more glassy phase than those shergottite samples. An estimated pyroxene modal abundance of this Y980459 sample is 36±13%, which is consistent with another estimate of 48% by an independent petrographic study