Analysis of ordinary chondrites using powder X-ray diffraction:2. Applications to ordinary chondrite parent-body processes

摘要

We evaluate the chemical and physical conditions of metamorphism in ordinary chondrite parent bodies using X-ray diffraction (XRD)-measured modal mineral abundances and geochemical analyses of 48 type 4-6 ordinary chondrites. Several observations indicate that oxidation may have occurred during progressive metamorphism of equilibrated chondrites, including systematic changes with petrologic type in XRD-derived olivine and low-Ca pyroxene abundances, increasing ratios of MgO/(MgO+ FeO) in olivine and pyroxene, mean Ni/Fe and Co/Fe ratios in bulk metal with increasing metamorphic grade,and linear Fe addition trends in molar Fe/Mn and Fe/Mg plots. An aqueous fluid, likely incorporated as hydrous silicates and distributed homogeneously throughout the parent body, was responsible for oxidation. Based on mass balance calculations, a minimum of 0.3-0.4 wt% H_2O reacted with metal to produce oxidized Fe. Prior to oxidation the parent body underwent a period of reduction, as evidenced by the unequilibrated chondrites. Unlike olivine and pyroxene, average plagioclase abundances do not show anysystematic changes with increasing petrologic type. Based on this observation and a comparison of modal and normative plagioclase abundances, we suggest that plagioclase completely crystallized from glass by type 4 temperature conditions in the H and L chondrites and by type 5 in the LL chondrites. Because the validity of using the plagioclase thermometer to determine peak temperatures rests on the assumption that plagioclase continued to crystallize through type 6 conditions, we suggest that temperatures calculated using pyroxene goethermometry provide more accurate estimates of the peak temperatures reached in ordinary chondrite parent bodies.