Fabric analysis of Allende matrix using EBSD

Abstract

Fabric analysis of the interstitial matrix material in primitive meteorites offers a novel window on asteroid formation and evolution. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) has allowed fabrics in these fine-grained materials to be visualized in detail for the first time. Our data reveal that Allende, a CV3 chondrite, possesses a uniform, planar, short-axis alignment fabric that is pervasive on a broad scale and is probably the result of deformational shortening related to impact or gravitational compaction. Interference between this matrix fabric and the larger, more rigid components, such as dark inclusions (DIs) and calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs), has lead to the development of locally oriented and intensified matrix fabrics. In addition, DIs possess fabrics that are conformable with the broader matrix fabric. These results suggest that DIs were in situ prior to the deformational shortening event responsible for these fabrics, thus providing an argument against dark inclusions being fragments from another lithified part of the asteroid (Kojima and Tomeoka 1996; Fruland et al. 1978). Moreover, both DIs and Allende matrix are highly porous (~25%) (Corrigan et al. 1997). Mobilizing a highly porous DI during impact-induced brecciation without imposing a fabric and incorporating it into a highly porous matrix without significantly compacting these materials is improbable. We favor a model that involves Allende DIs, CAIs, and matrix accreting together and experiencing the same deformation events.