Discovery of coesite and stishovite in eucrite

作者:Miyahara Masaaki*; Ohtani Eiji; Yamaguchi Akira; Ozawa Shin; Sakai Takeshi; Hirao Naohisa
来源:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014, 111(30): 10939-10942.
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1404247111/-/DCSupplemental

摘要

Howardite-eucrite-diogenite meteorites (HEDs) probably originated from the asteroid 4 Vesta. We investigated one eucrite, Bereba, to clarify a dynamic event that occurred on 4 Vesta using a shock-induced high-pressure polymorph. We discovered high-pressure polymorphs of silica, coesite, and stishovite originating from quartz and/or cristobalite in and around the shock-melt veins of Bereba. Lamellar stishovite formed in silica grains through a solid-state phase transition. A network-like rupture was formed and melting took place along the rupture in the silica grains. Nanosized granular coesite grains crystallized from the silica melt. Based on shock-induced high-pressure polymorphs, the estimated shock-pressure condition ranged from similar to 8 to similar to 13 GPa. Considering radiometric ages and shock features, the dynamic event that led to the formation of coesite and stishovite occurred ca. 4.1 Ga ago, which corresponds to the late heavy bombardment period (ca. 3.8-4.1 Ga), deduced from the lunar cataclysm. There are two giant impact basins around the south pole of 4 Vesta. Although the origin of HEDs is thought to be related to dynamic events that formed the basins ca. 1.0 Ga ago, our findings are at variance with that idea.

  • 出版日期2014-7-29
  • 单位中国极地研究中心