[meteorite-list] Re: NWA 2999 - A Case for Mercury?
Darren Garrison
cynapse at charter.net
Tue Dec 20 16:34:39 EST 2005
- Previous message: [meteorite-list] Re: NWA 2999 - A Case for Mercury?
- Next message: [meteorite-list] AD - 86 Auctions - A Case for Mercury?--Not! Hello Adam and List, Adam wrote: ------------------------------------------ A very interesting abstract titled "Unique Angrite NWA 2999: The Case For Samples From Mercury" can be found at the incredibly long link below. The TKW for the official designation, NWA 2999 consisting of a dozen stones which were each studied individually is 392 grams not the reported amount in the abstract although additional pairings have been found. Under a different designation which has yet to be assigned, the pairings have already been locked down for study or were permanently acquired by two major collections. http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate?language=English&verbose=0&listenv=table&application=fm05&convert=&converthl=&refinequery=&formintern=&formextern=&transquery=nwa%202999&_lines=&multiple=0&descriptor=%2fdata%2fepubs%2fwais%2findexes%2ffm05%2ffm05%7c1000%7c4885%7cUnique%20Angrite%20NWA%202999:%20The%20Case%20For%20Samples%20From%20Mercury%7cHTML%7clocalhost:0%7c%2fdata%2fepubs%2fwais%2findexes%2ffm05%2ffm05%7c23111912%2023116797%20%2fdata2%2fepubs%2fwais%2fdata%2ffm05%2ffm05.txt ------------------------------------------- David Weir wrote: Congratulations again on your new angrite, I love my specimen. Certain constraints of a mercurian origin for angrites that were in the literature previously have been pretty well explained in this abstract, and I am a bit more optimistic now that the possibility is real... cautiously optimistic at least. I have a webpage that provides a glimse into the current investigation of the indicators of a mercurian meteorite: http://meteoritestudies.com/protected_MERCURY.HTM Hi Adam & David, Angrites are indeed very enigmatic and may not all be from the same parent body. See below from: http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/April03/asteroidalLava.html However reading the article cited by Adam above it would seem that item #6 especially, would rule out the Angrites being from Mercury. "Are Angrites From Mercury?: Angrites are mafic to ultramafic "igneous" or metamorphic rocks that probably derive from a large, differentiated planetary body; yet, in the absence of any "ground truth" the possibility that they are samples from Mercury rests only on circumstantial arguments: (1) the virtual lack of Na implies a highly refractory planet (near the Sun?) (2) oxygen isotopic compositions are close to and parallel to the TFL (like planetary rocks from Earth, Moon, Mars and Vesta) (3) preserved corona textures in NWA 2999 require a parent body capable of km-scale tectonic uplift of lithospheric material (by thrust faulting?) (4) each angrite specimen is texturally different with a unique CRE age (5) the wide range in CRE ages (55 to <6.1 Ma) suggests that the parent body (APB) is large enough to be struck repeatedly and may still be extant (6) very ancient formation ages (>4.555 Ga) imply very rapid core segregation and cooling following APB accretion (consistent with contraction?) (7) dynamical calculations predict that ~1% of material ejected from Mercury could reach Earth (8) the limited shock effects may mean that some angrites, including NWA 2999, were ejected by spallation; others may be impact melts (could vesicles in some quenched specimens be trapped impact rock vapor?). " Why? Simply put, the Moon remained geologically active for more than 1 billion years. Since Mercury is larger than the Moon, it would have retained its internal heat even longer. Since the formation ages of Angrites are all extremely ancient and tightly clustered as well, they had to come from a body that cooled quickly, even quicker than Vesta, since the ages of Eucrites are spread out over about a 10 million year period. Sincerely, Mike Fowler Chicago The Angrites and Their Odd Namesake So now we are up to four asteroids that provide us with volcanic meteorites: two types of eucrites, the baffling mesosiderites, and the angrites. However, David (Duck) Mittlefehldt and his colleagues show that Angra dos Reis does not seem to be related to the other five angrites, in spite of lending its name to the entire group. Perhaps we have a fifth asteroid represented here. Mittlefehldt and his coworkers made a detailed study of a new angrite named D'Orbigny, a 16.6-kilogram meteorite found in Argentina. They also did chemical analyses of Sahara 99555, a 2.7-kilogram meteorite found in northern Africa, and compare these new data to what we knew previously about the angrites. The new angrites appear to be volcanic rocks, as shown by the shapes and intergrowths of minerals (see photograph below) and the way the mineral olivine is chemically zoned and rich in calcium. Zoning usually indicates that a crystal has grown fairly rapidly from a magma that cooled too fast to allow formation of minerals uniform in composition.  ABOVE: This microscopic view is of the meteorite D'Orbigny. Light gray and white mineral grains are plagioclase feldspar, blue grains are olivine, and red, greenish and tanish ones are pyroxene. The colors are caused by interference of light waves due to viewing a thin (35 micrometers) slice of the meteorite in polarized light. As for eucrites, the shapes of the individual crystals and the way in which they are intergrown indicates that the rock crystallized in a lava flow. The chemical composition in individual olivine crystals varies in a complicated way. The interiors are uniform in composition, but about half way to the rims the composition begins to change, with the ratio of magnesium to iron and the concentration of chromium decreasing while calcium increases. There are even some reversals in the chemical zoning patterns. Mittlefehldt suggests that the complicated zoning patterns are caused by the crystallization of pyroxene in the lava because pyroxene incorporates different amounts of iron, magnesium, calcium, and chromium compared to the amounts incorporated in olivine. There may be an added effect due to the addition of fresh (uncrystallized) magma to the crystallizing portion of the lava. The chemical compositions of angrites are strikingly different from those of the eucrites. Mittlefehldt and his coworkers illustrate this by drawing attention to the ratio of calcium to aluminum. The angrites have Ca/Al ratios larger than those found in carbonaceous chondrites, which are thought to represent the relative abundances of most elements in the solar system. The eucrites, in contrast, have Ca/Al ratios the same as in carbonaceous chondrites. This shift in Ca/Al cannot be attributed solely to a mineral with a low Ca/Al ratio separating from the angrite magma. For example, the likely mineral is plagioclase feldspar. If this mineral separates, it also affects the ratio of samarium (Sm) to europium (Eu). In eucrites, which seem to have been affected by plagioclase removal somehow, Sm/Eu varies widely. This ratio is quite uniform in angrites, suggesting that there is some other cause for the high Ca/Al. Mittlefehldt suggests it might have been caused by the presence of a mineral rich in aluminum (such as spinel) in the interior of the angrite asteroid, where the angrite magmas were created by partial melting. Angra dos Reis plots in a drastically different place from the other angrites, suggesting it formed in a different asteroid or in a very different region on the same asteroid.  ABOVE: This plot shows the ratio of samarium to europium (Sm/Eu) versus the ratio of calcium to aluminum (Ca/Al) in eucrites and angrites. Both ratios have been divided by the ratio in carbonaceous chondrites. Angrites are clearly enriched in Ca relative to Al. This enrichment is not caused by addition or separation of plagioclase feldspar, which would affect the Sm/Eu ratio even more, as shown by the eucrites. Note that Angra dos Reis is much different in both Ca/Al and Sm/Eu than the other angrites. This suggests that Angra dos Reis may have formed on a different asteroid. The angrites seem to consist of two different groups: Angra dos Reis is all by itself in one group. The other five meteorites make up the other group. Angra dos Reis has been metamorphosed, whereas the others have not been. Angra dos Reis is also chemically distinctive. These factors point to an origin on a different asteroid. If so, perhaps it has a different mix of oxygen isotopes than do the other angrites, allowing us to use the same argument for distinctive origin as Akira Yamaguchi used to identify a new type of eucrite. No such luck. All six angrites have the same mix of oxygen isotopes. Mittlefehldt and coworkers suggest that the oxygen isotope test might not be definitive in this case because quite a few different meteorite groups have oxygen isotopic compositions in this region of the oxygen isotope plot. (Angrites are labeled "Ang" in the oxygen isotope plot above.)
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On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 14:01:57 -0700, Martin Horejsi <accretiondesk at gmail.com> wrote:
>Further, given the absurd amount of luck necessary for ejecta to reach
>earth from Mercury, I suspect we will have specimens in our
>collections from many other planets or moons as well.
>
Other than the moons of Mars (at least one of which may already be sampled on Earth) what other
planets or moons could have pieces available? I wouldn't think any would be.
- Previous message: [meteorite-list] Re: NWA 2999 - A Case for Mercury?
- Next message: [meteorite-list] AD - 86 Auctions - A Case for Mercury?--Not! Hello Adam and List, Adam wrote: ------------------------------------------ A very interesting abstract titled "Unique Angrite NWA 2999: The Case For Samples From Mercury" can be found at the incredibly long link below. The TKW for the official designation, NWA 2999 consisting of a dozen stones which were each studied individually is 392 grams not the reported amount in the abstract although additional pairings have been found. Under a different designation which has yet to be assigned, the pairings have already been locked down for study or were permanently acquired by two major collections. http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate?language=English&verbose=0&listenv=table&application=fm05&convert=&converthl=&refinequery=&formintern=&formextern=&transquery=nwa%202999&_lines=&multiple=0&descriptor=%2fdata%2fepubs%2fwais%2findexes%2ffm05%2ffm05%7c1000%7c4885%7cUnique%20Angrite%20NWA%202999:%20The%20Case%20For%20Samples%20From%20Mercury%7cHTML%7clocalhost:0%7c%2fdata%2fepubs%2fwais%2findexes%2ffm05%2ffm05%7c23111912%2023116797%20%2fdata2%2fepubs%2fwais%2fdata%2ffm05%2ffm05.txt ------------------------------------------- David Weir wrote: Congratulations again on your new angrite, I love my specimen. Certain constraints of a mercurian origin for angrites that were in the literature previously have been pretty well explained in this abstract, and I am a bit more optimistic now that the possibility is real... cautiously optimistic at least. I have a webpage that provides a glimse into the current investigation of the indicators of a mercurian meteorite: http://meteoritestudies.com/protected_MERCURY.HTM Hi Adam & David, Angrites are indeed very enigmatic and may not all be from the same parent body. See below from: http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/April03/asteroidalLava.html However reading the article cited by Adam above it would seem that item #6 especially, would rule out the Angrites being from Mercury. "Are Angrites From Mercury?: Angrites are mafic to ultramafic "igneous" or metamorphic rocks that probably derive from a large, differentiated planetary body; yet, in the absence of any "ground truth" the possibility that they are samples from Mercury rests only on circumstantial arguments: (1) the virtual lack of Na implies a highly refractory planet (near the Sun?) (2) oxygen isotopic compositions are close to and parallel to the TFL (like planetary rocks from Earth, Moon, Mars and Vesta) (3) preserved corona textures in NWA 2999 require a parent body capable of km-scale tectonic uplift of lithospheric material (by thrust faulting?) (4) each angrite specimen is texturally different with a unique CRE age (5) the wide range in CRE ages (55 to <6.1 Ma) suggests that the parent body (APB) is large enough to be struck repeatedly and may still be extant (6) very ancient formation ages (>4.555 Ga) imply very rapid core segregation and cooling following APB accretion (consistent with contraction?) (7) dynamical calculations predict that ~1% of material ejected from Mercury could reach Earth (8) the limited shock effects may mean that some angrites, including NWA 2999, were ejected by spallation; others may be impact melts (could vesicles in some quenched specimens be trapped impact rock vapor?). " Why? Simply put, the Moon remained geologically active for more than 1 billion years. Since Mercury is larger than the Moon, it would have retained its internal heat even longer. Since the formation ages of Angrites are all extremely ancient and tightly clustered as well, they had to come from a body that cooled quickly, even quicker than Vesta, since the ages of Eucrites are spread out over about a 10 million year period. Sincerely, Mike Fowler Chicago The Angrites and Their Odd Namesake So now we are up to four asteroids that provide us with volcanic meteorites: two types of eucrites, the baffling mesosiderites, and the angrites. However, David (Duck) Mittlefehldt and his colleagues show that Angra dos Reis does not seem to be related to the other five angrites, in spite of lending its name to the entire group. Perhaps we have a fifth asteroid represented here. Mittlefehldt and his coworkers made a detailed study of a new angrite named D'Orbigny, a 16.6-kilogram meteorite found in Argentina. They also did chemical analyses of Sahara 99555, a 2.7-kilogram meteorite found in northern Africa, and compare these new data to what we knew previously about the angrites. The new angrites appear to be volcanic rocks, as shown by the shapes and intergrowths of minerals (see photograph below) and the way the mineral olivine is chemically zoned and rich in calcium. Zoning usually indicates that a crystal has grown fairly rapidly from a magma that cooled too fast to allow formation of minerals uniform in composition.  ABOVE: This microscopic view is of the meteorite D'Orbigny. Light gray and white mineral grains are plagioclase feldspar, blue grains are olivine, and red, greenish and tanish ones are pyroxene. The colors are caused by interference of light waves due to viewing a thin (35 micrometers) slice of the meteorite in polarized light. As for eucrites, the shapes of the individual crystals and the way in which they are intergrown indicates that the rock crystallized in a lava flow. The chemical composition in individual olivine crystals varies in a complicated way. The interiors are uniform in composition, but about half way to the rims the composition begins to change, with the ratio of magnesium to iron and the concentration of chromium decreasing while calcium increases. There are even some reversals in the chemical zoning patterns. Mittlefehldt suggests that the complicated zoning patterns are caused by the crystallization of pyroxene in the lava because pyroxene incorporates different amounts of iron, magnesium, calcium, and chromium compared to the amounts incorporated in olivine. There may be an added effect due to the addition of fresh (uncrystallized) magma to the crystallizing portion of the lava. The chemical compositions of angrites are strikingly different from those of the eucrites. Mittlefehldt and his coworkers illustrate this by drawing attention to the ratio of calcium to aluminum. The angrites have Ca/Al ratios larger than those found in carbonaceous chondrites, which are thought to represent the relative abundances of most elements in the solar system. The eucrites, in contrast, have Ca/Al ratios the same as in carbonaceous chondrites. This shift in Ca/Al cannot be attributed solely to a mineral with a low Ca/Al ratio separating from the angrite magma. For example, the likely mineral is plagioclase feldspar. If this mineral separates, it also affects the ratio of samarium (Sm) to europium (Eu). In eucrites, which seem to have been affected by plagioclase removal somehow, Sm/Eu varies widely. This ratio is quite uniform in angrites, suggesting that there is some other cause for the high Ca/Al. Mittlefehldt suggests it might have been caused by the presence of a mineral rich in aluminum (such as spinel) in the interior of the angrite asteroid, where the angrite magmas were created by partial melting. Angra dos Reis plots in a drastically different place from the other angrites, suggesting it formed in a different asteroid or in a very different region on the same asteroid.  ABOVE: This plot shows the ratio of samarium to europium (Sm/Eu) versus the ratio of calcium to aluminum (Ca/Al) in eucrites and angrites. Both ratios have been divided by the ratio in carbonaceous chondrites. Angrites are clearly enriched in Ca relative to Al. This enrichment is not caused by addition or separation of plagioclase feldspar, which would affect the Sm/Eu ratio even more, as shown by the eucrites. Note that Angra dos Reis is much different in both Ca/Al and Sm/Eu than the other angrites. This suggests that Angra dos Reis may have formed on a different asteroid. The angrites seem to consist of two different groups: Angra dos Reis is all by itself in one group. The other five meteorites make up the other group. Angra dos Reis has been metamorphosed, whereas the others have not been. Angra dos Reis is also chemically distinctive. These factors point to an origin on a different asteroid. If so, perhaps it has a different mix of oxygen isotopes than do the other angrites, allowing us to use the same argument for distinctive origin as Akira Yamaguchi used to identify a new type of eucrite. No such luck. All six angrites have the same mix of oxygen isotopes. Mittlefehldt and coworkers suggest that the oxygen isotope test might not be definitive in this case because quite a few different meteorite groups have oxygen isotopic compositions in this region of the oxygen isotope plot. (Angrites are labeled "Ang" in the oxygen isotope plot above.)
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