We analyzed the Steinbach IVA stony-iron meteorite using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), laser ablation inductively-coupled-plasma mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS), and modeling techniques. Different and sometimes adjacent low-Ca pyroxene grains have distinct compositions and evidently crystallized at different stages in a chemically evolving system prior to the solidification of metal and troilite. Early crystallizing pyroxene shows evidence for disequilibrium and formation under conditions of rapid cooling, producing clinobronzite and type 1 pyroxene rich in troilite and other inclusions. Subsequently, type 2 pyroxene crystallized over an extensive fractionation interval. Steinbach probably formed as a cumulate produced by extensive crystal fractionation (~60-70% fractional crystallization) from a high-temperature (~1450-1490 degrees C) silicate-metallic magma. The inferred composition of the precursor magma is best modeled as having formed by greater than or equal to 30-50% silicate partial melting of a chondritic protolith. If this protolith was similar to an LL chondrite (as implied by O-isotopic data), then olivine must have separated from the partial melt, and a substantial amount (~53-56%) of FeO must have been reduced in the silicate magma. A model of simultaneous endogenic heating and collisional disruption appears best able to explain the data for Steinbach and other IVA meteorites. Impact disruption occurred while the parent body was substantially molten, causing liquids to separate from solids and oxygen-bearing gas to vent to space, leading to a molten metal-rich body that was smaller than the original parent body and that solidified from the outside in. This model can simultaneously explain the characteristics of both stony-iron and iron IVA meteorites, including the apparent correlation between metal composition and metallographic cooling rate observed for metal.

The concentrations of the fluid mobile trace elements lithium, beryllium, boron, and barium were measured in samples of the altered matrix of several impactite breccias of the Yaxcopoil-1 drill core using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to determine the extent of transport due to aqueous or hydrothermal processes. Three of the elements, Li, Be, and B, have higher concentrations in the upper suevite impact breccias than in the lower impact melt deposits by factors of 3.5, 2.2, and 1.5, respectively. Lithium and B are the most enriched elements up section, and appear to have had the greatest mobility. The similar fractionation of Li and B is consistent with fluid transport and alteration under low-temperature conditions of less than 150 degrees C based on published experimental studies. In contrast to Li, Be, and B, the concentration of Ba in the altered matrix materials decreases upward in the section, and the concentration of Ba in the matrix is an order of magnitude less than the bulk concentrations, likely due to the presence of barite. The origin of the elemental variations with depth may be related to different protolith compositions in the upper versus the lower impactite units. A different protolith in the altered matrix is suggested by the Mg-rich composition of the lower units versus the Al-rich composition of the upper units, which largely correlates with the mobile element variations. The possibility that vertical transport of mobile elements is due to a postimpact hydrothermal system is supported by published data showing that the sediments immediately overlying the impactites are enriched in mobile elements derived from a hydrothermal system. However, the mobile elements in the sediments do not have to originate from the underlying impactites. In conclusion, our data suggests that the impactites at this location did not experience extensive high-temperature hydrothermal processing, and that only limited transport of some elements, including Li, Be, and B, occurred.

The measurements of magnesium and potassium isotopic compositions of refractory minerals in Allende calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs), 7R-19-1, HN3-1, and EGG3 were taken by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The 7R-19-1 contains 16O-rich and 16O-poor melilite grains and define a single isochron corresponding to an initial 26Al/27Al ratio of (6.6 +/- 1.3) x 10^(-5). The Al-Mg isochron, O isotope measurements and petrography of melilite in 7R-19-1 indicate that 16O-poor melilite crystallized within 0.4 Myr after crystallization of 16O-rich melilite, suggesting that oxygen isotopic composition of the CAI-forming region changed from 16O-rich to 16O-poor within this time interval. The 16O-poor melilite is highly depleted in K compared to the adjacent 16Orich melilite, indicating evaporation during remelting of 7R-19-1. We determined the isochron for 41Ca-41K isotopic systematics in EGG3 pyroxene with (4.1 +/- 2.0) x 10^(-9) (2-sigma) as an initial ratio of 41Ca/40Ca, which is at least two times smaller than the previous result (Sahijipal et al. 2000). The ratio of 41Ca/40Ca in the EGG3 pyroxene grain agrees within error with the value obtained by Hutcheon et al. (1984). No evidence for the presence of 41K excess (decay product of a short-lived radionuclide 41Ca) was found in 7R-19-1 and HN3-1. We infer that the CAI had at least an order of magnitude lower than canonical 41Ca/40Ca ratio at the time of the CAI formation.

Here we report the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations of the mineral assemblages and textures in shock-induced melt veins from seven L chondrites of shock stages ranging from S3 to S6. The mineral assemblages combined with phase equilibrium data are used to constrain the crystallization pressures, which can be used to constrain shock pressure in some cases. Thick melt veins in the TenhamL6 chondrite contain majorite and magnesiowstite in the center, and ringwoodite, akimotoite, vitrified silicate-perovskite, and majorite in the edge of the vein, indicating crystallization pressure of ~25 GPa. However, very thin melt veins (5-30 micrometers wide) in Tenham contain glass, olivine, clinopyroxene, and ringwoodite, suggesting crystallization during transient low-pressure excursions as the shock pressure equilibrated to a continuum level. Melt veins of Umbarger include ringwoodite, akimotoite, and clinopyroxene in the vein matrix, and Fe2SiO4-spinel and stishovite in SiO2-FeO-rich melt, indicating a crystallization pressure of ~18 GPa. The silicate melt veins in Roy contain majorite plus ringwoodite, indicating pressure of ~20 GPa. Melt veins of Ramsdorf and Nakhon Pathon contain olivine and clinoenstatite, indicating pressure of less than 15 GPa. Melt veins of Kunashak and La Lande include albite and olivine, indicating crystallization at less than 2.5 GPa. Based upon the assemblages observed, crystallization of shock veins can occur before, during, or after pressure release. When the assemblage consists of high-pressure minerals and that assemblage is constant across a larger melt vein or pocket, the crystallization pressure represents the equilibrium shock pressure.

Electron microprobe studies of several H5 and H6 chondrites reveal that olivine crystals exhibit systematic Fe-Mg zoning near olivine-metal interfaces. Olivine Fa concentrations decrease by up to 2 mol% toward zoned taenite + kamacite particles (formed after relatively small amounts of taenite undercooling) and increase by up to 2 mol% toward zoneless plessite particles (formed after ~200 degrees C of taenite undercooling). The olivine zoning can be understood in terms of localized olivine-orthopyroxene-metal reactions during cooling from the peak metamorphic temperature. The silicate-metal reactions were influenced by solid-state metal phase transformations, and the two types of olivine zoning profiles resulted from variable amounts of taenite undercooling at temperatures <700 degrees C. The relevant silicate-metal reactions are modeled using chemical thermodynamics. Systematic olivine Fe-Mg zoning adjacent to metal is an expected consequence of retrograde silicate-metal reactions, and the presence of such zoning provides strong evidence that the silicate and metallic minerals evolved in situ during cooling from the peak metamorphic temperature.