PETROLOGIC STUDIES OF THE MALVERN HOWARDITE AND THE MERWEVILLE CHONDRITE, AND A SURVEY ON THE AWARENESS AND LITERACY OF PLANETARY SCIENCES IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES
by
STEPHAN ADRIAAN BALLOT LAUBSCHER
DISSERTATION
submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
MASTER OF NATURAL SCIENCE
in
GEOLOGY
in the
FACULTY OF NATURAL SCIENCES
at the
RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY
Supervisor: Prof. L.D. Ashwal (RAU) Co-Supervisor: Dr. M. Tredoux (UCT)
September 2000 DECLARATION
I declare that this thesis is my own work. It is being submitted for the degree of Master of Science in the Department of Geology, Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination in any other University.
Stephan Adriaan Ballot Laubscher
This l'\\ day of IL 2000 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
"Nobody said it would be easy but nobody said it would be this hard" I would like to thank all the following people for their invaluable assistance in the course of this study. In South Africa I thank my supervisors Prof. Lew Ashwal (RAU) and Dr. Marian Tredoux (UCT) for their initial support in granting me the opportunity to work on this project and also for their effort and help, to initialize the combined support of the project at NASA in Houston, Texas. I thank the Bloemfontein National Museum and especially Dr. Johan Welman for granting me the use of a piece of the Malvern meteorite and Mr. Johan Loock from The University of the Free State for giving us part of the new unclassified meteorite, Merweville, to analyse and classify. I thank Mr. Mick Rebak and Dr. Rodger Hart from Schonland Research Center respectively, for the cutting of Malvern and help with the INAA, and Dr. Piet Louw from Pelindaba for his help with the irradiation of the samples. I am also grateful to Mr. Jefferson Chaumba of UCT for his help in preparing the samples for XRF analysis. At the Department of Geology, Rand Afrikaans University I thank Dr. Manfred Troesch for answering all my questions on a daily basis in regard to all aspects of meteorites. I thank Mr. Hennie Jonker and Ms. Elsa Maritz for their logistical support as well as their friendliness, and Ms. Nellie Day for her help on the running of the electron microprobe. I thank Prof Bruce Cairncross for his help in photographing the samples, Mike Knoper for his continued help on the use of various computer programmes, Dr. Jan-Marten Huizenga for his help with computers and answering questions and Prof Nic Beukes, ProfJay Barton, Prof Henk Winter, Dr. Andre Smit, Dr. Jens Gutzmer and Dr. Frank Nyame for their support and interest in the study. I also thank Maurice Baloi and Daniel Selepe for cutting and polishing of samples, and Herbert Leteane for making sure the kitchen was always ready for use. I am indebted to the M.Sc and Ph.D. students at RAU Geology with whom I shared numerous discussions about the writing of our theses and less scientific things; they are Herman Dorland, Herman Van Niekerk, Andrea Sanderson, Richard Evans, Angus McIntyre, Riana van den Berg, Mark Le Grange, Quintin Swart, Marcus Schaefer, Mark Roth, Akos Szabo and Bernd Muller. I am grateful to the NRF (National Research Foundation) for granting me funding to do my study. I thank Miss Wilna Crous for her help at the RAU photographic lab with scanning of photographs and the use of their computers. I thank everybody that contributed to the collection of survey data needed for this thesis. They are Ms. Ronel Malan from RAU Dept. of Chemistry for her help in distributing the survey forms at the RAU first year chemistry class, Dr. Marian Tredoux, who collected data from UCT physics first year students and the Protec Programme, Linden, Vorentoe and Raucall High School for their willingness to be part of the survey. I thank the staff at the Transvaal Museum, the Science Museum, MuseumAfrica and the South African Museum in Cape Town for their information on museums in South Africa. I thank the Council for Geoscience for giving me "room" to finish my thesis, and the interest they showed in my topic. I thank Ms. Wilma van der Merwe for helping me with the maps made for this study.
In the USA I am indebted to Dr. Michael Zolensky for his support of my study at NASA in Houston. Without his willingness to provide funding for my stay in Houston, this study would not have been half as interesting and fun as it turned out to be. I also gratefully acknowledge all his and his wife's friendliness and helpfulness. Dr. Vincent Yang should be thanked for his help and input with the electron microprobe at Johnson Space Center as well as Mary Sue Bell for helping me master the SEM. I thank Dr. Steven Symes, Ronnie and Penny Bernhard, Dr Graham Ryder, Rene Martinez, Dr. Arch Reid, Dr. Justin Wilkinson, Dr. Ben Shuraytz, Dr. Kristin Farry, the 1997 intern students, James Tutor , Betty Hartman and many others for providing friendship and help in making my stay in Houston and Johnson Space Center as pleasant as possible. I thank Aurora Pun of the University of New Mexico who supplied me with copies of her paper long before it was published and hints and comments on related subject material. I thank Dr. Tim McCoy of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum for his time and comments on the workings of a successful meteorite exhibit, i.e. Smithsonian Natural History Museum. I want to acknowledge and thank NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) for providing inspiration and excitement to the public and students the world over, including myself. Lastly, certainly not the least, my parents, brothers and sister and the whole family for being supportive of my every move and believing in me. All my friends allover. Without them most things would not have been possible. This dissertation is dedicated to my parents. Finally, I thank God for being the real goal in life and for how He keeps on showing me how wonderful and inspirational his universe can be. ABSTRACT This dissertation deals with meteorites, but from a few different perspectives. As of 2000, there are 49 known meteorites that have been recovered from South Africa, including the new Merweville chondrite, which is first described and classified here. This represents only about 1.5% of worldwide falls and finds. Perhaps because of the relatively small number of specimens, and a possible resulting drop in interest amongst the scientific community, research on extant South African meteorites has declined in recent years. In this study, new results are presented for two South African meteorites, the Malvern howardite, and the newly recovered Merweville chondrite. In addition, South African public knowledge and awareness of meteorites and planetary sciences is discussed, and remedial recommendations are made. The Malvern howardite is a rare type of polymictbreccia. New petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical studies of clasts reveal an abundance of impact-melt clasts, with lesser amounts of cataclastic, granoblastic and metal and sulphide-rich clasts. The matrix of Malvern is dominated by comminuted pyroxene, very likely derived from mechanical degradation of pre-existing, pyroxene-richimpact-meltclasts. Chondritic clasts, including carbonaceous chondrites, have been reported in similar howardites (e.g. Washougal, Jodzie and Kapoeta); such clasts were searched for, but not found in our specimens of Malvern. Microprobe analyses of pyroxene in the impact
melt clasts show variable compositions (Wo 4 7_9 8 En29 7_70 9 FS70 69_61 ). Equilibration temperatures of coexisting low- and high-Ca pyroxene, using the Wells (1977) geothermometer, range from 965 to 1230°C (mean = 1042°C + 32°C), possibly recording high-energy impact-related magmatic processes. Malvern may have reached such a high temperature that the original chondritic clasts have all been melted, leaving behind only the impact-melts. Refractory Fe-Ni rich metals in Malvern may be the only surviving components from originally-presentchondritic materials; these may have acted as nuclei for the formation of impact melt clasts. A previously unstudied and unclassified meteorite specimen, recovered in 1977 near Merweville in the Western Cape Province, was obtained for this study. Although partly weathered, petrographic studies reveal the specimen to be an ordinary chondrite. Recognizable chondrules are present, but were not well defined. The matrix is recrystallized indicating that Merweville should be considered a Type 5 chondrite. Chemical analyses of the unweathered portion of the specimen reveal the following results: Fe°/Fe (0.092 ± 0.26), Fe/Si0 2 (0.37 ± 0.60), % Fa (23.3-30.7),and Si02/MgO 1.58-1.64. Elemental ratios (e.g Ca/Si vs Mg/Si, Al/Si vs Mg/Si etc.) of other L chondrites also match the results of Merweville. Based on these observations Merweville is hereby classified as an L5 chondrite. To investigate the social impact of meteorite studies, a survey of Grade 11 and 12 pupils and first year university students in South Africa was undertaken to determine their level of literacy, interest and awareness of meteorites and planetary sciences. Students in Johannesburg and Cape Town were chosen to represent different societal sectors, including school students from disadvantaged and advantaged communities. The results indicate that learners with poor results in awareness and literacy are still very keen on the subject. The advantaged learners outperformed their disadvantaged colleagues in most categories, proving that the discrepancy between them is still a factor and should be dealt with, but only 20% of all students asked have visited a museum before. Based on these results, it is recommended that much more emphasis be put on science and technology in South African schools. Taking learners to science and natural history museums or associated institutions are also very important in generating interest. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration
Acknowledgements
Abstract
CHAPTER 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO METEORITES AND SOUTH AFRICAN
METEORITE STATISTICS
1.1 The information in meteorites 1
1.2 Classification of meteorites 3
1.3 Meteorite falls and finds in South Africa 5
1.4 The South African Meteorite Inventory 7
CHAPTER 2: THE MINERALOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY OF THE CLASTS IN
THE MALVERN HOWARDITE
2.1 Introduction 9
2.2 Sampling History and Preparation 15
2.3 Analytical methods 16
2.4 Clast Population in Malvern 17
2.5 Petrographic Description of Identified Clast Types 18
2.5.1 Eucrite (Pyroxene + Plagioclase).clasts 18
2.5.1.1 Basaltic textured/coarse grained clasts 18
2.5.1.2 Cataclastic clasts 20.
2.5.1.3 Granoblasticclasts 20 2.5.2 Breccia clasts 21
2.5.2.1 Howardite clasts 21
2.5.2.2 Impact melt-rocks.clasts 22
2.5.2.3 Metal & Sulfide-rich breccia clasts 25
2.5.3. Mineral fragments 26
2.5.4 Matrix 26
2.6 Mineral Compositions as Determined by Electron Microprobe 27
2.7 Pyroxene Thermometry 30
2.8 Discussion 31
2.9 Conclusions 35
CHAPTER 3: THE CLASSIFICATION OF MERWEVILLE, A NEW CHONDRITE
METEORITE FOUND IN SOUTH AFRICA
3.1 Introduction 38
3.2 Sampling History 39
3.3 Experimental Procedure and Analytical Techniques 39
3.3.1 X-ray Fluorescence Method (XRF) 39
3.3.2 Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) 41
3.4 Results 42
3.4.1 Petrographic Descriptiion 42
3.4.2 Major Element Chemistry 43
3.4.3 Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) Results 44
3.4.4 Electron Microprobe Analyses 45 3.5 Chondrite Classification Schemes 46
3.6 Discussion 49
3.6.1 Geochemical Group Classification 49
3.6.2 Petrological Type Classification 51
3.6.3 Geochemical Ratio Classification 52
3.6.4 Effects of Weathering 53
3.7 Conclusions 54
CHAPTER 4: PLANETARY AND MUSEUM AWARENESS SURVEY FOR FINAL
YEAR SCHOOL STUDENTS AND FIRST-YEAR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Abstract 55
4.1 Introduction 56
4.2 Methods 57
4.3 Results & Discussion 59
4.3.1 Basic Planetary science question (q. 2-6) 59
4.3.2 Meteorite related questions (q. 7-10) 60
4.3..3 Museum related questions (q. 12-14 and 17) 62
4.3.4 Science and Planetary science questions (q. 18-20) 64
4.4.5 Miscellaneous questions (q. 1, 11, 15 and 16) 66
4.4 Literature Study 68
4.5 Discussion 74
4.6 Conclusion & Recommendations 78 COMBINED REFERENCES 79
APPENDIX A: ELECTRON MICROPROBE DATA OF MINERALS IN MALVERN
APPENDIX B: ELECTRON MICROPROBE DATA OF MINERALS IN MERWEVILLE An Introduction to Meteorites and South African Meteorite Statistics
CHAPTER 1
AN INTRODUCTION TO METEORITES AND SOUTH AFRICAN METEORITE
STATISTICS
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The information in meteorites
Meteorites are meteoroids that have survived their passage through the atmosphere and
fell on the Earth's surface. The name meteorite is derived from a Greek word meaning 'present in the air'. A meteorite is generally named after a city or geographical feature near where it fell or was found (Glass, 1982). "Until the Apollo astronauts returned samples from the moon, meteorites were our only samples of extraterrestrial material. Most meteorites are nearly a billion years older than any rocks found on Earth and some meteorites appear to have survived virtually unchanged since their formation nearly 4.6 billion years ago" (Glass, 1982, p90).
Meteorites have played, and continue to play, a unique role in the understanding of the early history of the solar system. The most numerous of meteorites (the chondrites) have quasi- solar compositions that mark them as rocks that formed during or shortly after the birth of the solar system, with very little alteration thereafter (Dodd, 1981). Even the chemically evolved iron, stony-iron, and achondritic stony meteorites formed, with very few exceptions, long before the oldest known terrestrial and lunar rocks. Meteorites are, quite simply, the only known survivors of the first steps in the 4.6-billion-year trek from dust to us (Dodd, 1981). Meteorites are believed to be fragments of planetary material (mostly from the asteroid belt) and have been used as analogues for the bulk composition of the Earth. (Glass, 1982). An Introduction to Meteorites and South African Meteorite Statistics
The mineralogy of meteorites is simple when compared to terrestrial rocks; only about
80 minerals have been identified in meteorites as compared with over 2000 minerals found in terrestrial rocks. Most of the common minerals found in meteorites are also commonly found on
Earth. However, 24 minerals found in meteorites have not been found in terrestrial rocks (Glass,
1982). None of the strictly "meteorites only" minerals were found, although a unknown mineral was found (see Chapter 3).
Friction between a falling meteoroid and air causes a very rapid and intense heating of its surface. A thin surface layer is melted and stripped off, producing a cloud of finely dispersed particles (sprayed droplets are frequently observed on the surface of meteorites). A large part of the mass of a meteorite may be removed in this manner, leaving behind a characteristic fusion rim of dark, partially vitrified material. In fact, the smaller meteoroids are completely destroyed and thus never fall to the surface to be collected as meteorites. The total mass that is lost from a meteoroid ranges from a few percent to one hundred percent. The interior portions of meteoroids larger than a few grams in mass can generally survive the flight through the Earth's atmosphere without their chemistry being affected (Wood, 1979a).
Studies indicate that most of the extraterrestrial material that falls on the Earth's surface is microscopic or dust-sized particles (Glass, 1982). These fine-grained extraterrestrial particles are called extraterrestrial, or cosmic dust. Extraterrestrial dust includes particles stripped from the surface of meteorites during their passage through the atmosphere (ablation droplets) and micrometeorites. Micrometeorites are particles that have survived their flight through the Earth's atmosphere as a result of their small size, i.e. they didn't produce enough friction to initiate
`burning' at the surface (they are generally less than 100 iim in diameter (Glass, 1982)). Scientists believe that about 27 metric tons of meteoritic dust fall on Earth every day (Worldbook, 2000).
2 An Introduction to Meteorites and South African Meteorite Statistics
1.2 The Classification of Meteorites
The classification of meteorites (Table 1) is based on their bulk composition
(mineralogical and chemical) and internal structure (or texture). The two main groups of meteorites are the irons and stones. The irons, as their name implies, are ± 90 % composed of Fe alloyed with 6-16 % Ni (Dodd, 1981). The stones are composed of silicate minerals (most also contain Fe metal) and some resemble igneous rocks found on Earth. A third group, called the stony-irons, is composed of approximately equal amounts of nickel-iron and silicate material.
Meteorites can be further classified as either falls or finds. Falls are recovered meteorites, when they were "seen" to fall or reported as seen. A find is a meteorite that was not seen to fall, but recognised due to its distinctive features. The significance of falls and finds are that the falls are less weathered, if at all and represent a better estimate of abundance types. Table 1 and Figure
1 show worldwide fall-and-find statistics, compared with data for South African specimens.
Data for Antarctica (all finds) are not included in Table 1. Data from Pieters and McFadden
(1994), show that chondrite meteorite finds from Antarctica are more common than those collected elsewhere. Chondrites recovered from Antarctica consisted of 23 carbonaceous chondrites, 904 H-chondrites, 490 L-chondrites, 83 LL-chondrites and 9 enstatite chondrites. It is obvious that H-chondrites are the most common of recovered meteorites, followed by L- chondrites.
Currently, material from about 950 observed falls has been recovered worldwide. In addition to these, there have been about 1800 finds, thus totalling about 2750 known meteorites.
Each year there are new falls and finds. Table 1 gives a summary of the representatives of the various meteorite types and classifications groups that have been identified up to the end of 1993
(Heide & Wlotzka, 1994).
3 An Introduction to Meteorites and South African Meteorite Statistics
Table 1 Meteorite fall-and-find statistics as of 1 January 1992 (for worldwide) and current South African data (2000)
Worldwide SA Class Falls Finds' Total Falls Finds SA Total Meteorites, total 952 1798 2750 22 26 49
All chondritesb 822 (86.3%) 1023 1845 15 (68.2%) 5 (19.2%) 20 (56.9%) H-chondrites 293 (30.8%) 485 (27.0%) 778 6 (27.3%) 3 (11.5%) 9 L-chondrites 337 (35.4%) 395 (22.0%) 732 6 (27.3%) 2 (7.7%) 8 LL-chondrites 68 (7.1%) 35 (1.9%) 103 0 0 0 E-chondrites 13 (1.4%) 10 (0.6%) 23 2 (9.1%) 0 2 C-chondrites 36 (3.8%) 24 (1.3%) 60 1 (4.5%) 0 1
All achondrites b 70 (7.4%) 25 (1.4%) 95 3 (13.6%) 0 3 Eucrites 23 (2.4%) 9 (0.5%) 32 1 (4.5%) 0 1 Howardites 18 (1.9%) 4 (0.2%) 22 2 (9.1%) 0 2 Diogenites 10 (1.1%) 0 10 0 0 0 Aubrites 9 (0.9%) 1 (0.1%) 10 0 • 0 0 Ureilites 4 (0.4%) 7 (0.4%) 11 0 0 0 SNC meteorites 4 (0.4%) 2 (0.1%) 6 0 0 0 Lunar meteorites . n.s . n.s 13 0 0 0 Unclassified* n.s n.s n.s 3 (13.6%) 2 (7.7%) 5
All stony iron 11 (1.2%) 61 (3.4%) 72 0 1 (3.8%) 1 meteorites b Pallasites 4 (0.4%) 37 (2.1%) 41 0 0 0 Mesosiderites 6 (0.6%) 23 (1.3%) 29 0 1 (3.8%) 1
All iron meteoritesb 49 (5.1%) 689 (38.3%) 738 1 (4.5%) 18 (69.2%) 19 Octahedrites 28 (2.9%) 457 (25.4%) 485 1 (4.5%) 11 (42.3%) 12 Hexahedrites 5 (0.5%) 44 (25.4%) 49 0 2 (7.7%) 2 Ataxites 0 33 (1.8%) 33 0 1 (3.8%) 1 Ungrouped n.s n.s n.s 0 4 (15.4%) 4
Source: British Museum Catalogue of Meteorites (1985) and Meteoritical Bulletin 63-72 (1985- 1992). Frick and Hammerbeck (1973) and The Max Planck Institute for Geochemistry (1998) a The Antarctic finds are not included here. Finds from desert areas (Sahara, Nullabor, and Roosevelt County) were divided by two to account for possible pairings. b The total numbers also include ungrouped members n.s Not specified in references * Unclassified, 2 meteorites considered lost. 1 Unknown whereabouts, 2 doubtful classification. 1 is considered a chondrite and the other an enstatite chondrite. Percentages in brackets are percentages of the specific meteorite type compared to the total falls and finds of the Worldwide total and the South African total.
4 N. U, . . e li 0 C E
a) South Africa: Falls b) South Africa: Finds C) 0 e _c 10 co U O C
c) Worldwide: Falls d) Worldwide: Finds
Figure: 1 South African versus worldwide statistics of meteorite finds andfa lls. An Introduction to Meteorites and South African Meteorite Statistics
Petrographic, chemical, and isotopic differences among the various meteorite groups rule out the traditional interpretation that meteorites sample a single planetary parent body whose remnants are the asteroids. It appears that 70 to 80 parent bodies are needed to account for known meteorites (Dodd, 1981).
The most commonly used general classification scheme for meteorites is that of Mason (1962a), which is based on that of Prior (1920). This scheme (Wasson, 1974) was revised according to Mason (1967a). The only major weakness with this system is in the classification of iron meteorites, in which the classes are defined entirely in terms of structural relationships between the different irons (Wasson, 1974). For chondrites most authors currently use the nomenclature H (high total iron content), L (low total iron content), and LL (low total and metallic iron content) for the ordinary chondrites groups, and this is a practice which Wasson (1974) recommends. A more complete scheme was devised by Van Schmus & Wood (1967) in which chondrites can be divided into five groups: carbonaceous chondrites (C), ordinary chondrites, [high iron (H), low iron (L), low iron, low metal (LL)] and enstatite chondrites (E). Table 1 is based mainly on this scheme.
1.3 Meteorite falls and finds in South Africa
Table 1 and 3 list the 49 South African meteorites known to researchers (Laubscher et a1,1999). All of them were used in all the data correlations used in this chapter. The distribution of South African meteorites is shown in Figure 1. A few odd/unexplained facts can be found through the distribution of data in this figure: (i) There are 10 meteorites in the north of the country (Gauteng Province, Mpumalanga, Northern Province, Free State and the North West Province) of which three are recorded finds (red), and seven are recorded as falls (blue). (ii) The Northern Cape Province is characterized mostly by finds, possibly because it is the driest and most arid part of the country, so that farmers and local people may recognize unusual rocks more readily. In Figure 1 the South African distribution of falls and finds are (in terms of meteorite type) shown through the use of pie-diagrams.
5 An Introduction to Meteorites and South African Meteorite Statistics
Table 2 The distribution of chondrite falls among the petrological types (Wasson, 1974).
Petrological type (increase in metamorphic exposure =0
Group 1 2 3 4 5 6
E 3 2 6
H 6 23 53 32
L - 9 11 28 117
LL - 6 1 7 20
CV 4 4 -
CO - 5 1
CM 14 CI 5 - - no examples of falls among this petrological type at 1974.
Table 1 shows that there are almost twice the number of total finds in the world, compared to total falls (note that the Antarctic finds are not included in this compilation). Unusual rocks such as meteorites will therefore probably only be spotted if they are seen to fall. A possible explanation of this may be that in South Africa most of the meteorites are only found when they are seen to fall. The rest of the meteorites, which are left to be stumbled upon in the field, are mostly ignored and thus unidentified, unless clearly unusual. This would skew finds towards iron meteorites because they would generally seem more out of place than silicate rocks.
It should be understood that a single country, in this case South Africa, only represents a very small percentage (about 1.5%) of worldwide falls and finds, and that the few meteorites that constitute the total of a single country may seem out of context compared to the world total. Taking this into account, it may be inappropriate to compare the percentages of South Africa's meteorites with that of the world.
The most common finds or falls in South Africa are the octahedrites, H-chondrite and L-chondrites, in line with abundance statistics worldwide (Table 1 and Figure 1). Significant differences are that South Africa's percentage of iron-meteorite finds is twice the world percentage, and that worldwide chondrite finds is twice that of South Africa.
Unfortunately, studies of meteorites in Southern Africa has never been a high priority
6 An Introduction to Meteorites and South African Meteorite Statistics in research programs. Thus, meteorite research, historically weak in South Africa, may never feature highly, or at all, on the programs of research universities and research units in the country. For a short period in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s some work was done on meteorites for example by A.B. Simpson (1982), L.H. Ahrens, H. Von Michaelis, A.J. Erlank and J.P Willis (1969) and McCarthy (1972, 1973), all at the Department of Geochemistry at the University of Cape Town. In the early 1970s a catalogue of South African and South West African meteorites was written by Frick and Hammerbeck (1973) of the Geological Survey of South Africa. More recently, work on South African meteorites was done by P. Le Roux (1994) and this study. Recent work on meteorite impacts craters and processes was done at the University of the Witwatersrand (Reimold et al, 1999).
1.4 The South African Meteorite Inventory
Frick and Hammerbeck's (1973) catalogue of South African and South West African meteorites was the last complete list/inventory compiled by local scientists. The same data were assessable through the up to date Catalogue of Meteorites that the British Museum of Natural History publishes every few years. Some meteorites were missing from the Catalogue of Meteorites (1966), e.g; Bull's run, Bushman-land, Deelfontein, Maria Linden, and South African Railways. Bechuanaland is considered as a doubtful meteorite because it seems to have been lost before it could be classified.
According to the Catalogue of Meteorites (1966) there is no reference to research having been performed on Kopjes Vlei, Kouga Mountains and Rateldraai, but they are kept in the Mineral Dept. of The British Museum of Natural History. This study presents the updated data in a more current format (Table 3). Seeing that there were very few meteorite additions to the South African meteorite inventory since 1973, only a few facts have changed. Data that have been updated are the names of Provinces and districts where the meteorites were found, as well as modern references to research that was done after 1973. A subsequently updated map of meteorite distribution throughout South Africa is shown in Fig. 2.
Meteorites have been found in neighbouring countries such as Namibia and Zimbabwe during 1999 ( Dr. Sharad Master and Dr. Mike Zolensky, personal communication, 1999).
More meteorites should be recovered in the near future as work is being done by
7 Next Page
Figure 2: Map showing the localities of falls and finds within South Africa up to 2000
An Introduction to Meteorites and South African Meteorite Statistics
different researchers in South Africa on the awareness and recovery of meteorites among the public. A website (http://www.geoscience.org.za/pmsu/index.htm) has been established dedicated to Meteorites and Meteorite Impacts in South Africa as well as a meteorite recovery programme. This recovery programme has been started through the Astronomical Society of South Africa (T. Gould, personal communication, 2000) in collaboration with researchers at various Universities and research organizations. There are also some meteorites that have been found and are currently being classified (Master, personal communication, 1999).
Even though new meteorites like Merweville are being sought for, there are many meteorites in this inventory that need to be studied in greater detail, such as the Malvern howardite. As can be seen in Table 3 there are cases where the meteorites are classified, but without proper scientific references.
8 Ta ble. 3 List of a llknown Sou t h A frican meteor ites, listed a lpha betica lly
Fa ll Year Month Day I Time Weight Pieces Latitude Longitude Reference(s ) 1888 ( known) 0 u 25°S 24 °E no data (6) 1955 381 28 °5'S 24 °5'E Groeneve ld ( 1959) Y 1943 Ju ly 25 1735 3. 88 1 26°10'S 28 °25E Gevers et a l ( 1945) own N 1907 0. 603 1 33°O'S 26°24'E Bertwerth ( 19 12) Mounta in ( 1934, 1935) Mason ( 1963) 1910 (before) 0. 544 1 30 I I °35'S 23°33'E Pa lache ( 1926) Y 1964 (before) 2. 25 1 no data no data no data (2) 1932 (a bout) 3 1 30°S 20°E no data (2) 1793 136 1 33°30'S 26 °E Ba rrow ( 1 801) Vo n Da nkelmann ( 1805) Cohen ( 1905) Goldberg et al ( 1 95 1) Y 1838 Octobe r 13 0900 5. 2 u 33 °8'S 19 °23'E Herschel ( 1839) Maclear ( 1839, 1840) Buchner ( 1840) Wiik ( 1956) Boato ( 1954) Mueller ( 1953) Von Michae lis et al ( 1969) Y 1877Novem ber 19 1600 3.65 seve ra l 2 7°42'S 27°18'E Douglas Rudge ( 19 11) Prior ( 1916) Mason ( 1963) Vo n Michae lis et al ( 1 969) Y1868 Ma rch 20 1. 064 1 28°1 2'S 24 °34'E Greg ory ( 1868) Prior ( 191 6) Mason ( 1966) 1960 June 20. 93 2 29°23'S 23°6'E Schumann ( 1967) Viljoen ( 1972) 1932 (a bout) 28 1 30°11 'S 23°16'E n o data (2) Y 1906 Novembe r 04 1630 1 1 33 °45'S 1 8°34'E Maso n ( 1963) Von M ichaelis et al ( 1969) Le Roux ( 1994) 1970 (about) 2. 066 1 23°50'S 27°55'E no data (5) 1882 601 33 °19'S 19°37'E Brez ina ( 1887) Cohen ( 1905) Lu nt ( 1914) Henderson and Perry ( 1954) Y195 6Februa ry 0 1 18 153. 457 severa l 32°6'S 28°20'E Mou nta in ( 1956) Mason ( 1963) Von Michae lis et al ( 1969) Y 1 903 April 22 1 130 482 32 °30'S 21 °54'E Mason ( 1 963) Vo n Michae lis ( 1965) 1914 92. 1 1 31 °36'S 25°48'E Prior ( 1923) 1884 43 2 30°33'S 29 °25'E Cohen ( 1900) Kopjes Vlei IIA No rthern Cape Ken hardt d ist. N 1914 (before ) 13.6 1 29°18'S 21 °9'E no data (4) Kouga Mountains IIIB Eastern Cape Humansdorf dist. N 1903 (about) 1173 1 33°37'S 24°0'E no data (4) Leeuwfontein L6Gau teng Engelbrecht drift, Preto ria Y19 12 June 2114 000. 46 1 25°40'S 28 °22'E Prior ( 1922, 1923) Mason ( 1963) Lichtenberg L North-West Barbania farm, Lichtenberg Y 1973 September 26 4 1 26 °9'S 26 °11 'E no data (2) Ta ble. 3 List of a ll known Sou th African meteorites, listed a lpha betica lly (con tinued).
Macibini AEUC-P Kwazu lu-Nata l20km W of Matubatuba Y 1936 September 23 0800 1. 995 6 28°50'S 3 1 °57'E Na ughton a nd Pa rtridge ( 1 938) Lovering ( 1964) Malvern AHOW Frees tate 25km SSW of Tha ba Nchu Y 1933 November 20-3 0. 807 1 29 °27'S 26°46'E Th is study Maria Linden L4 no data No data Y 1925 April 15 0. 114 1 no data no data no data (2) Matatiele Medium Octa. Easte rn Cape Ongeluks Nek N 1865 known 298 1. 00 30'20'S 28'47'E Co hen ( 1 900) Merweville L5 Western Cape Prince Albert dist. N 1977 a bout 6. 97 1.00 32' 45. 5'S 21 '41 'E This study Molteno AHOW Easte rn Cape Molte no dist. Y 1953 April or May 1700h 0. 15 1 3 1 °15'S 26°28'E Frost ( 1971) Simpso n ( 1982) 'Moshesh H Eastern Cape Matatie le dist. N 2001 30°6'S 28°43'E Von M ichae lis et a l ( 1969) Mount Ay liff IA Eas te rn Cape Transkei N 1907 (about) 1 3.6 1 30°49'S 29°21 'E Prior ( 1921) Muizen berg L6 Western Cape Cape Town N 1880 ( known) 4. 6 1 1 34°6'S 1 8°28'E Mason ( 1963) Von Michae lis et al ( 1 969) Natal Aero lite Kwazu lu-Nata l No data (3) Y 1973 ( known) 0.0014 1 frag ment no data no data no data (2) N 'Ka nd hla IID Kwazu lu-Nata lKwa zu lu Y 19 12 August 0 1 1330 17. 2 1 28°34'S 30°42'E Sta n ley ( 19 13) Lunt ( 1914) Union Observato ry ( 1912) No's 1, 3 Orange River (iron ) IIIB Frees tate Philippolis dist. N 1855 148. 8 1 30°S 25°E Buchner ( 1863) Orange River (stone) Ae rolite No rthern Cape Hopetown dist. Y 1 887 September 08 0.008 1 29°40'S 24°13'E Brezina ( 1895) Piq uetberg H Western Cape Piq uetberg dist. Y 1 881 0. 037 1 32°52'S 18°43'E Brez ina ( 1887) Quee n's Mercy H6 Easte rn Cape Matatiele dist. Y 1925 Ap ril 30 2000 7 3 30°7'S 28°42'E Prior ( 1926) Maso n ( 1963) • Rate ldraa i II IA Northern Cape Kenhardt dist. N 1909549 1 28°50'S 2 1 °8'E no data (4) St. Mark's EH5 Eastern Cape St. Mark's Mission, Tra nskeiY 1 903 Janu ary 03 2300 13. 78 1 32 °1 'S 27°25'E Cohen ( 1906) Merrill ( 19 16) Bertwerth ( 1916) Maso n ( 1966) Von Michae lis et a l ( 1969) Le roux ( 1994) Schaap-Kooi H4 Western Cape Frase rbu rg dist. N 1910 (known) 2.7 1 32°5'S 21 °20'E Be rtwe rth ( 1916) Mason ( 1963) • Von Michaelis et a l ( 1 969) Simondium MES-A4 Western Cape Lower Paa rl N1907 1. 6 2 33°5 1 'S 18 °57'E Prior ( 1910, 1918, 1 921) South African Railways IVA Cape Province No data (3) N 1938 (before) 47 1 no data no data no data (2) Vaalbult IA Northern Cape Prieska dist. N 192 1 (before) 11. 8 1 29 °45'S 22 °30'E Prior ( 1926) Victoria West fine octa Northe rn Cape 40km SW of Victoria West Y 1860 2.95 1 3 1 °42'S 23°45'E Gregg ory ( 1868) Smith ( 1873) Winburg IC-ANFrees tate Winburg d ist. Y 188 1 50 1 28°30'S 27°E Doug las Rudge ( 19 11, 1914) Witklip Farm H5Mp umalang a Ca rolina d ist. V19 18 May 26 0940 0. 022 4frag ment 26°S 30°E Prior ( 1926) Maso n ( 1963) Wittekrantz L5 Weste rn Cape Beaufort West Y 1880 Dece mber 09 0800 2.2 2 32°30'S 23°E Prior ( 1913) Mason ( 1963) Von Michae lis et a l ( 1969) no data ( 1) Poss ibly a Iron meteorite but doubtfu l no data (2) No refe re nces to research no data (3) No coordinates are recorded, thus district u nknown no data (4) No reference, but the sa mples are stored in the British Musu em of NaturalHis tory no data (5) Relatively new sample with no class ificatio n yet and no references no data (6) Sample possibly lost before class ification cou ld be made (possibly a iron acco rd ing to Cata logue of Meteorites ( 1966)) * Bulls ru n. Sample seems to be lost a nd is a dou btfu l siderite The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
CHAPTER 2
THE MINERALOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY OF THE CLASTS IN THE
MALVERN HOWARDITE
2.1 Introduction
A 4.5cm x 4cm x 3 mm piece of the Malvern howardite (Fig. 3) with a weight of 15.67 grams (Fig. 4) was supplied for this study by the Bloemfontein National Museum. This study involved mostly microprobe and scanning electron microprobe analysis of minerals and textures in clasts, of a very fine size. This study mainly focused on the different clasts itself and not so much on the composition of the mineral fragments and matrix, even though they are discussed briefly. It also includes geothermometry of minerals in the clasts. Seeing that Malvern, and howardites in general, are complex rocks with clasts of varied composition, it was deemed appropriate to distinguish between the clasts to better understand the surface processes that operated on the howardite-eucrite-diogenite (HED) parent body. HED meteorites are the only asteroidal samples for which the parent asteroid is known with some confidence. This body is presumed to be the asteroid 4 Vesta (Binzel and Xu, 1993).
The clasts composed < 50% in the thin sections that were analysed; the remainder was matrix, which consists of a mixture of broken clasts and mineral fragments. In the 5 gram sample fraction that was analysed, 25 random clasts of 2mm to 100pm size were individually analysed and studied to determine the specific features that constitute these clasts. The clast mineralogy is mainly composed of pyroxene and plagioclase grains and glass. Other minor minerals include olivine, troilite, kamacite, taenite, ilmenite and chromite.
The clasts were grouped (see Table 4) into six groups: eucrite clasts, orthopyroxenite clasts, breccia clasts, carbonaceous chondrite clasts, mineral fragments and matrix. Of the clasts
9 Fig. 3 The Malvern meteorite after it fell in 1933 near Bloemfontein, South Africa. It clearly shows the fusion crust that formed when it entered the atmosphere.
Fig. 4 The sample of Malvern before it was used for the analyses in this study. The dark inclusions are the clasts or glass beads. The light-grey areas is the matrix. The sample is 4cm in diameter. The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite analysed, the impact-melt rocks of the breccia clasts were most common. Neither diogenite nor carbonaceous chondrite clasts were found in the sample studied.
Table 4 Categorization and abundances of clast types in Malvern (percentages only includes clasts and not the matrix and mineral fragments).
Group Subgroup Number of clasts and 4)/0
Pyroxene-Plagioclase Basaltic 4 ( 16% of total)
(Eucrite) clasts Cloudy none found
Cataclastic 2 ( 8% of total)
Granoblasitc 2 (8% of total)
Orthopyroxenite none found
(Diogenite) clasts
Breccia clasts Howardites 4 (16% of total)
Melt-coated none found
Impact-melt-rock 12 (48% of total)
Metal and sulphide-
rich clasts 1 (4% of total)
Carbonaceous chondrite clasts none found
Mineral fragments found, not described in detail
Matrix found, not described in detail
Total 100%
Bulk chemistry of howardites
Two of the most abundant classes of achondrites are the howardites and eucrites (both are calcium-rich) (Wood, 1979a). Howardite meteorites have long been recognised as surface, or regolith, samples from a parent-body that also is a likely source for eucrites and diogenites, generally called the "HED" parent body (Duke and Silver, 1967; Bunch, 1975). The howardites are polymict breccias that contain lithic clasts, mineral clasts, and minor glass clasts, and they
10 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite bear textural similarities to lunar soils and breccias. Because of these textural similarities, the
same study methods employed by Vaniman et al. (1979) for the study of lunar soils can be
applied to the regolith of the HED parent-body.
The whole rock chemistry of howardites has been recognised by Moore (1962) and Mason
(1967) to be intermediate between diogenites (orthopyroxenites) and eucrites (pigeonite basalts).
Jerome and Goles (1971), Fukuoka et al. (1977), and Dreibus et al. (1977) have successfully
modelled the bulk chemistry of howardites as two-component mixtures of diogenite and eucrite
end-members. A petrographic study of howardites has an advantage over bulk-chemical studies;
not only can the lithologies in the source-terrain be identified, but also their pre- and post-
brecciation histories can be determined from their textures. The petrographic studies of Duke and
Silver (1967), Dymek et al. (1976) and Bunch (1975), have demonstrated that the particles that
make up the breccias represent a greater variety of rock-types than the mixing models suggest
(Labotka, & Papike, 1980).
Determination of modal mineralogy and mineral chemistry for different clast-size
fractions yields information about the nature of the source terrain, maturity, transport, and
lithification of the eucrite regolith. These characteristics can then be compared with those for the
lunar regolith to determine the types of soils-forming processes that were active on the HED
Parent-body (Labotka, & Papike, 1980).
Malvern classification
Based on chemical evidence Malvern has been classified as a howardite, but texturally it seems rather unique. The dominant clast type is glassy to devitrivied basalt with small, but abundant, disseminated opaques and various amounts of trapped angular mineral fragments.
Another clast type is a coarse-grained aggregate of orthopyroxene, plagioclase, and
11 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite clinopyroxene. Glass constitutes an extensive amount of the matrix of this meteorite. Roedder and
Weiblen, (1970) described "glass" as being included in the basic rock assemblages, and includes felsic glass and partially divitrivied felsic glass that is an interstitial phase in many rocks.
As was mentioned earlier, Malvern is an achondritic polymict breccia similar to lunar breccias. Lunar breccias are aggregates of dark-grey to black, fine-grained, particulate materials enclosing mineral and rock fragments up to 3cm in diameter. The matrix material consists of finer-grained equivalents of the coarse fragments. The glass in Malvern occurs in the form of spherules and angular fragments up to 1 mm in diameter. According to the studies of Kirsten &
Horn (1977), the mineral fragments are shocked orthopyroxenes (hypersthene-bronzite), clinopyroxenes, small olivine fragments and larger plagioclases. The plagioclases are recrystallized since they are clear, with no signs of shock. The 39Ar-40Ar age of the glassy clasts in Malvern shows an initial rise to 3.8 G.a. at 900 °C. At higher temperatures it assumes values between 3.6 and 3.8 G.a (Kirsten & Horn, 1977).
Malvern thermal history
According to the work of Hewins & Klein (1978), the thermal history of Malvern is
more complex than the continuous cooling of a single body of melt. The impact melt which formed glass beads, cooled more rapidly than 10°C min' initially, probably as the result of free flight, and the beads were incorporated in the breccia at a relatively low temperature, somewhat above the glass transition. Patches of melt with orthopyroxene dendrites cooled more slowly than
10°C min' between the liquidus and the glass transition. Some of these were locally undercooled by the incorporation of cold clasts, resulting in fine-grained highly crystalline melt rocks (dark matrix breccias). All impact melts cooled relatively rapidly to the glass transition temperature,
730°C. The breccia as a whole reached equilibrium below this temperature and no constraints can
12 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite be placed on its subsequent cooling rate (Hewins & Klein, 1978).
Time scale of achondrites
It has been suggested that the strong clustering of the ages of the lunar highland rocks and the remarkable correlations observed for the Pb-U systematics are evidence for a terminal lunar cataclysm at 3.9 G.a (Tera et al., 1974). If this sharply-defined bombardment of the Earth-Moon system represents a broad bombardment of the inner solar system, then evidence for a similar time scale may exist in the meteorite parent bodies. Since most basaltic achondrites are known to be surface breccias from some parent bodies, dating them will provide information as to whether such cataclysmic events were also prevalent on the meteorite parent bodies and if so, to what extent.
Metal in Malvern
Primary metal in achondrites generally contains 0-3wt.%Ni and O-3wt % Co. In Malvern, however, the clasts are virtually devoid of metal and the matrix contains no metal of primary achondrite composition. The melt rocks contain metal of meteoritic composition, which is also present in the matrix of Malvern. It appears therefore that metal was introduced into Malvern during the impact event(s) that produced the melt rocks. This metal may be related to the projectile clasts (carbonaceous chondrite), requiring an origin by reduction, according to Hewins
& Klein (1978), for which there is no direct textural evidence. The alternative is an origin from unspecified metal-bearing projectiles, which hit the parent body with higher velocities than the carbonaceous chondrites (Hewins & Klein, 1978).
13 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
Carbonaceous chondrite clasts
In the initial studies of Malvern, no carbonaceous chondrite clasts were found in any of the pieces of sample analysed. This does not imply that there are no carbonaceous chondrite clasts in Malvern; it merely suggests that the lithic proportions in heterogeneous rocks such as howardites cannot be generalised. Similar studies may have to be done on the rest of the sample, but seeing that there is not much sample available, consideration should be given to future, possibly more compelling studies, such as looking for smaller IDP (interplanetary dust-sized particles) sized carbonaceous chondrite objects. This was suggested by Zolensky (1999), who considers these particles to be hosted in Malvern.
Carbonaceous chondrite clasts, direct evidence of projectile contamination, have been observed in the howardite Kapoeta (Wilkening, 1973), Washougal and Jodzie (Bunch, 1976) and
Bholgati (Hewins & Klein, 1978). There is indirect evidence of carbonaceous chondrite in
Malvern in the form of high concentrations of siderophiles (Chou et al, 1976). High concentrations of siderophile trace elements have been taken as indicators of projectile contamination of breccias (Morgan et al., 1977) and howardite breccias (Chou et al., 1976;
Fukuoka et al., 1977). It appears that the siderophile elements in the howardites reside to some extent in carbonaceous chondrite clasts, whereas in lunar samples they are in metal grains.
Most properties of the high-temperature materials (siderophiles) in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites suggest that they were formed from condensates that separated from a gas of solar composition at various temperatures and at ambient pressures between 10' and 10' atm.
Some of these materials appear to be simple aggregates of solid condensate: others (chondrules) probably crystallised from liquids generated by condensation or by melting of previously condensated solids.
14 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
2.2 Sampling History and Preparation
The meteorite was found on the farm Malvern, 25 km south-southeast of Thaba Nchu in the Orange Free State, South Africa, on 30 November, 1933, and presented to the South African
National Museum in Bloemfontein by the farmer, Mr. G. van Tonder, who recovered it. It fell between 20 and 30 November (it is not certain if he saw it fall and only picked it up later, or he picked it up in area where he had not been for 10 days), in 1933. The original mass of the achondrite was not recorded but was estimated by Simpson (1982) at approximately 700g from the amount of material now available for study. The bulk of the specimen remains in the South
African National Museum in Bloemfontein as sample K1600. As stated by Simpson (1982), the original mass of 10 kg given by Jerome and Michel-Levy (1971) was incorrect, and the source of the figure of 807 g quoted by Frick and Hammerbeck (1973) is unknown (Simpson, 1982).
The surfaces sawn by Simpson clearly reveal the brecciated character of the meteorite, which is an unsorted, unstratified polymict mixture, composed of sharply angular and irregularly shaped fragments. These grade in size continuously from a maximum of 2.8 cm down to microscopic (>100 ,um) dimensions. The meteorite is well compacted and lithified, and shows no major fractures or veining. Its overall colour is pale grey, but many of the constituent fragments are very dark grey, almost black, with mineral and lithic inclusions of a lighter colour.
Similar, but very much finer grained, mineral and lithic clasts make up the bulk of the discernible material interstitial to the larger fragments. The majority of these clasts are less than 1 mm, but the largest observed lithic clast measures 15mm by 4 mm. A few small grains of metal and sulphide occur both infine-grained interstitial material and in the dark fragments (Simpson,
1982).
The most conspicuous exposed clast in the breccia is itself a breccia. It is roughly cube- shaped, approximately 2.8 cm' and very pale grey. It contains angular grey clasts up to 4 mm in
15 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite size and one subhedral green pyroxene crystal 7 mm across. Grains (<1mm) of opaque minerals are distributed throughout the pale 'matrix' of the fragment. No metal or sulphide grains were observed macroscopically in this micro-breccia clast (Simpson, 1982).
The sample used for this study was cut with alcohol as a cutting fluid, because water can dissolve some rare minerals (Zolensky 1997). For thin section preparation, superglue was used to bond the sample to glass slides instead of epoxy resin, because a sample set in superglue can be soaked in acetone to later dissolve the superglue, should this be necessary for later study.
Using superglue also proved better for grinding and polishing than epoxy, because of its easy removal and the risk of damaging the section is minimised.
Because of the very brittle nature of the sample, even when it was set in superglue, it broke into two almost evenly sized corner pieces as soon as cutting was attempted. These two pieces were sliced in the horizontal axis, to yield four very thin layers/slices of sample, in addition to the remaining chunk of meteorite (Figure. 4). These four slices were be used for SEM and electron microprobe studies. The sections could not be ground down to standard petrographic thickness (-30/[tm) because of the brittle nature of the material. The surface of the sample was polished without damage to the section, to a thickness of —80um
2.3 Analytical techniques
A Cameca SX100 microprobe (Johnson Space Center, Houston, USA) was used for the electron microprobe work. Backscattered electron studies were also performed on the Cameca
SX100, and the figures displayed in this study were produced on this instument in backscatter mode. Additional SEM photos were taken on the JEOL instrument at Johnson Space Center, and they were used to make a map of the samples at 66x magnification. At Rand Afrikaans University microprobe work was done using a Cameca Camebax microprobe.
16 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
The accelerating potential for both the JEOL and CAMECA was 15kv, and a spot size of 3 microns was used for mineral analyses. Standards that were used at Johnson Space Center for microprobe analysis included: kaerstutite (used fOr most elements Mn-garnet (for Mn), apatite
(for P), an artificial metal (for Cr and Ni) and troilite (for S).
2.4 Clast Population in Malvern
Lithic clasts make up only a small part of the total number of grains in the howardites.
Nevertheless, these clasts are important because they are the potential source material for the mineral fragments, and they are the rock types that make up the near-surface of the HED parent- body. Thus, the assemblage of lithic clasts may serve to distinguish the source regions for the different meteorites in much the same way that the lithic clasts in lunar soils characterise the different landing sites (Labotka et al, 1980, Heiken and McKay, 1974; Basu and McKay, 1979;
Finkelman, 1973).
Bunch (1975) presented a detailed classification of the various rock types that occur in howardites, but for purposes of comparing lithic abundances among different howardites,
Labotka and Papike (1980) have placed lithic clasts into a broader classification. The first major group is the plagioclase + pyroxene rock group. Rocks that fall in this group are composed of approximately equal proportions of plagioclase and pyroxene, with minor chromite, ilmenite, tridymite, troilite, and metal. This group is generally subdivided by the texture of the rock into four classes. The first class consists of rocks with basaltic textures; the second typical of slowly cooled plutonic rocks, the third class contains rocks that have been shock-deformed. The fourth class contains rocks that have undergone recrystallization during and after deformation (Labotka, and Papike, 1980).
17 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
The second major group comprises polycrystalline, monomineralic rocks. The third major group of lithic clasts, breccia clasts, is subdivided into two classes. The first comprises breccias that have textures similar to the dark-matrix breccias and agglutinates that are found in lunar soils
(Labotka and Papike, 1980). The matrices in these clasts may be microcrystalline or glassy. Some glass occurs in all of the breccias, even the microcrystalline varieties, but the glass is devitrified in all of those meteorites except Malvern. The glassy dark-matrix breccias that occur in Malvern are called melt rocks by Bunch (1975) and Hewins and Klein (1978). Klein and Hewins (1979) described these rock types in detail in Malvern and Bununu. Because those rocks contain abundant clasts in a dark glassy matrix, they are referred as dark-matrix breccias to emphasise the similarity to dark-matrix breccias in lunar soils.
I adopted a scheme to classify/categorize the clasts in Malvern, which was used by Pun et al. (1998) and in turn adopted from Bunch (1975), Labotka and Papike (1980), and Fuhrman and Papike (1981). The groups that were used were placed into six main groups. Twenty-five clasts were described (see Table 4). Following this is a petrographic description of 25 clasts used in this study.
2.5 Petrographic Description of Identified Clasts Types
All the descriptions given here were based on backscattered electron (BSE) images, unless otherwise specified. The classification of the clasts is based on Pun et al (1998). See Table
4.
2.5.1 Eucrite (Pyroxene + Plagioclase) clasts
2.5.1.1 Basaltic textured/coarse grained; c4, c6, c10, cll
18 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
The minerals in these clasts range in texture from subophitic to intergranular and consist of: lath-shaped plagioclase crystals partially enclosed by large, subhedral pyroxene grains, with microcrystalline interstitial material, or they show a network of plagioclase laths with pyroxene formed between the plagioclase. Truly ophitic clasts are rare, supporting the findings of Pun et al., (1998).
These clasts do not show the quenched melt texture of the impact melt clasts, nor do they show cataclastic, granoblastic textures or have the howardite rock and grain fragments, all of which are described below:
Clast 4 is composed entirely of plagioclase and pyroxene with 3 small ilmenite and troilite grains, there is also no matrix as in clasts 10 and 11 (See Figure 6).
Clast 6 is a relatively small (> 500 pm) clast. There is a large quartz grain inside this clast. The matrix consists of pyroxene from the surrounding mineral grains. There are about 15 pyroxene crystals of various sizes (10,um to 50,um).There are also two 50,um plagioclase grains in this clast
Clast 10 is a very large clast compared to the other clasts in this group, approximately
3-4 mm in length and is dark (grey to black) in hand sample. It is composed of five large plagioclase grains in the matrix, about 8 crystals of Fe-Ni metal, no large pyroxene crystals and a matrix of plagioclase-rich glass. There are also about 7 small olivine grains approximately 30 pm across. This clast also has rounded pure SiO, grains/blebs <250IAM across. The pyroxenes in this clast are mostly matrix, as well as small grains which is already resorbed into the matrix but still visible.
Clast 11 is rounded and is about 460 pm in diameter. It has about 4 pyroxene,grains that are light grey in BSE (not as bright as the pyroxenes in clast 4). These pyroxenes are faintly visible but not part of the matrix and show no exsolution lamellae.
19 Fig. 5 Clast 3. Backscattered electron (BSE) Fig. 6 Clast 4. BSE image of a eucritic clast image of a breccia clast (impact melt-rock). The (basaltic textured). White grains are pyroxenes grey grains in the clast are plagioclase. The white and the grey grains are plagioclase. Scale bar at grains on the left of the clast are pyroxene. The the lower left is 200 run. lighter grey phases at the bottom and lower right of the clast are mixtures of both pyroxene and plagioclase. The scale bar at the lower left corner is 500 ;.irn.
Fig. 7 Clast 5. BSE image of a eucrite clast Fig. 8 Clast 8. BSE image of a breccia clast (cataclastic group). The grain in the center is (impact melt-rock). The dark grey grain at the plagioclase. It shows cataclastic features. The bottom is plagioclase. The top half of the photo scale bar at the lower left is 500 pm. shows the melted matrix with three phases. The white phase is olivine. The grey phase is pyroxene and the dark grey phase is plagioclase. The scale bar at the lower left is 50 pm. The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
2.5.1.2 Cataclastic; c5, c12
These clasts have typical fragmented textures, with minerals showing granular, fragmented, deformed and strained grains. Both granoblastic and cataclastic clasts contain pyroxenes of widely varying composition.
Clast 5 is a circular shaped clast with irregular boundaries, dominated by plagioclase and pyroxene. There are no other phases within this clast except pure Si0 2. The clast is > 800 pm in size, and shows shock features and breccias (Figure 7). The only pyroxene grain has no visible exsolution lamellae.
Clast 12 is composed of 80% pyroxene, with areas/inclusions of variable composition.
This clast also clearly shows fracturing throughout the clast. There are <10 grains of olivine and
<15 of plagioclase.
2.5.1.3 Granoblastic; c21, 24
Granoblasticclasts show evidence for solid-state recrystallization, and consist ofpyroxene and plagioclase grains with smooth, polygonal grain boundaries and abundant 120° triple junctions (Pun et al., 1998).
Clast 21 is >1200 1.1M in diameter. The majority of the mineralogy is pyroxene and plagioclase with only 20 troilite grains in this clast. The matrix is a mixture of smaller pyroxene and plagioclase grains. The pyroxenes show no visible exsolution lamellae. There is also no quenched melt texture like in clasts 8 or 9, and the texture is also very different from clast 4. Clast
4 is similar in mineralogy but the grains in clast 21 are larger, more rounded and smoother than clast 4 which has more linear/rectangular shaped grains.
Clast 24 is a sub-angular clast >500 pm in size. The clast consists of subrounded to subangular grains of pyroxene and plagioclase (Figure 18). The ratio of pyroxenes to plagioclase
20 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite is 70-30%. There is one large (50 ,um) ilmenite grain in this clast. The grains are much more rounded than the grains in the previous clast 21.
2.5.2. Breccia clasts
2.5.2.1 Howardite; cl, c2, c13, c14
These clasts consist of a fine-grained matrix of comminuted mineral and rock fragments, of eucrite and diogenitic parentage, into which are embedded larger mineral, impact-melt, howardite and eucrite clasts (Pun et al., 1998).
Clast 1 is circular, however it appears best not to call these chondrules because Wasson
(1974) states that these "chondrules" appear to be fragments of larger crystalline masses and are formed by comminution of larger recrystallized chondritic material. On the other hand, Reid and
Fredriksson (1967) state that the bulk of the matrix in ordinary chondrites like Merweville
(discussed in the next chapter) consists of comminuted chondrule material of high-temperature origin.
There were <20 small grains of olivine as well as about 8 pure Si0 2 grains. The matrix in this clast is composed of very fine-grained glass. The matrix, which has a quenched texture, has the same mineralogy as the surrounding grains in this clast. The pyroxene grains do not clearly show visible exsolution lamellae, although some have barely noticeable lamellae. Some pyroxene and plagioclase grains show lighter coloured outer rims. Microprobe analysis of this pyroxene grain showed a decrease of Fe and increase in Ca from the outside of the grain to the inside.
Clast 2 has irregular boundaries and has a non-circular shape. This clast is larger than clast 1 (about 2mm) with large pyroxene crystals in the matrix. The pyroxene crystals have well defined exsolution lamellae. Most pyroxene crystals are < 200 pm size. The minute grains that
21 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite make up the matrix are generally 51.tm, with random larger crystals of olivine and troilite in the matrix. This clast contains <25 olivine crystals at 50 p.m size. The troilites are about the same size as the olivines, but less common. In one case, a troilite crystal occurs within a pyroxene crystal.
There are pyroxenes in clast 2 with very fine exsolution lamellae. The matrix is very fine, but does not show the quenched melted texture of some of the other clasts.
Clast 13 is a large compact clast (>2500 lAm) with a large (>500 [tm) pyroxene grain in the clast itself Less than 10 kamacite and troilite grains are visible. The matrix is glass with a few large inclusions of low-Ca and high-Ca pyroxene. The clast also has 4 small grains of quartz and about 5 grains of plagioclase. The matrix does not appear melted, but the grains are barely visible when compared to the surrounding matrix. The grains and matrix in this clast are not as clearly outlined as was the case in the previous clast 2.
Clast 14 is a small sub-rounded clast 600 inn across. Of the pyroxene grains in this clast,
4 grains do not have clear exsolution lamellae, but the lamellae are still visible. There are also
<10 plagioclase grains and 4 kamacite grains. The matrix is a mixture of surrounding minerals with a high pyroxene content. The grains seem similar to the previous clast 13, without the large pyroxene grain (Fig 10).
2.5.2.2 Impact melt-rock: c3, c7, c8, c9, c15, c16, c17, c18, c19, c20, c22, and c25
Pun et al. (1998) state that these highly melted breccia clasts have microcrystalline matrices and contain lithic and mineral clasts.
Clast 3 consists mainly of plagioclase but has many pyroxene fragments (Fig 5). The largest of the mineral fragments are pyroxene crystals- with visible exsolution lamellae. There are areas in the clast with a mixed composition, (see Table B.4) but the areas do not resemble matrix, because the texture is not microcrystalline. The pyroxenes are fragmented into smaller grains,
22 Fig. 9 Clast 8. BSE image of a breccia clast Fig. 10. Clast 14. BSE image of a breccia clast (impact melt-rock). This photo shows the same (howardites). The scale bar at the lower left is clasts as before but shows the clast at 500 pm. 200 i.un. Notice the variety of inclusions in the It also clearly shows the large single white clast. The dark-grey grains are plagioclase. The metal grain in the top right of the clast and the lighter grey grains are pyroxenes and the white large plagioclase at the bottom of the clast. single grain is a metal. The matrix is finer grained but not melted.
Fig. 11 Clast 15. BSE image of a breccia clast Fig. 12 Clast 15. BSE image of a breccia clast (impact melt-rock). The scalebar at the lower (impact melt-rock). This clast shows a quenched left is 500pm. This clast shows a variety of texture with elongate, skeletal crystals of inclusions and a large single white metal pyroxene (the white crystals). The grey matrix grain to the left of the center of the photo. and grey crystals are compositional mixtures. Below the center of the photo are "skeletal" The scale bar is 50 pm. structures (see Fig. 12). The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite but are from the same larger pyroxene grain.
Clast 7 resembles clast 1 in terms of texture in lower magnification, but under higher magnification it shows a definite quench texture in its matrix that is very different to clast 1. The clast is made up of only plagioclase (40%) and pyroxenes (60%), either as larger (>20 pm) crystals or as the matrix (<10 pm). Clast 7 is <1000 pm in diameter.
Clast 8 is relatively large, >2000 pm (Fig 8 and 9). There is one large (<1000 pm) plagioclase (An 87 8_88? )in this clast. There is also one large (300pm) Fe-Ni metal grain (kamacite).
This clast also has a quenched melt texture but is not as needle-like as the texture observed in clast 7. There are about 100 Fe-rich olivines scattered as small grains throughout the matrix. The pyroxenes occur only in the fine-grained matrix; no large (>25 pm) pyroxene, olivine mineral clasts are present. The matrix consists of plagioclase, pyroxenes and olivine. The metal in this clast, contains 0.35-1.1 wt% Co and 5-6.4 wt% Ni, which plots mostly in the "meteoritic range"
(Fig19).
Clast 9 is a heart shaped clast >1000 pm. There are 2 large (100 pm) pyroxene grains and one large (50pm) troilite grain. The matrix melt texture consists of mixtures of phases i.e high- and low-calcium pyroxenes, glass and plagioclase. Although this matrix is melted, relics of pyroxene grains with observable exsolution lamellae are still faintly visible.
Clast 15 is >1 mm in size with an orthopyroxene and plagioclase matrix. This matrix has quenched melt texture. There are no large kamacite grains and 4 low-Ca pyroxene grains (80 pm) and about 10 plagioclase grains <50 pm. The matrix is composed of glass with quenched crystals and pyroxene (Fig 11 and 12).
23 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
Clast 16 (>1000.00 p.m) has a unique quenched melt texture (Figure 13). It has a very
12 •
0.8 . 0 • 0.6 .
0.4 . Meteoritic Range
0.2
1 4 5 6 7 Wt. % Ni
Fig. 19 Cobalt-nickel compositions of one large metallic Fe-Ni grain from clast 8 of Malvern. fine-grained matrix comprising plagioclase and pyroxene. There is a >150pm kamacite grain in the centre of this clast. This clast does not have the large (>100 vm), distinct pyroxene grains that some of the other clasts have, but has small 20-40 i.m low-Ca pyroxene and plagioclase grains.
Most of the pyroxenes are barely visible in the matrix. Less than 5 pyroxenes have visible exsolution lamellae.
Clast 17 is >1000 1.1M. Plagioclase and pyroxene grains of <25 pm comprise the matrix.
One large oval shaped kamacite grain of 200 pm is present in the centre of the clast. There are many (<60) small pyroxenes <151.1MM in size, that are randomly, yet almost evenly distributed.
There are no pyroxenes that show visible exsolution lamellae in this clast (see Figure 15).
Clast 18 is >1 mm. It has a distinct matrix of glass, similar to the quenched crystals melt texture of clast 15. There are about 15 plagioclase grains and very little metal minerals. There are
24 Fig. 13 Clast 16. BSE image of breccia clasts Fig. 14 Clast 7. BSE image of breccia clasts (impact melt-rock). The scale bar at the lower (impact melt-rock). Scale bar is 200 i.un. At the left is 100 um. This photo shows the variety of top right of the photo is a single white metal inclusions in the matrix. grain. The dark-grey grains are plagioclase, the intermediate grey is pyroxene and the light grey spots are olivines. They are all matrix except some of the larger grains.
Fig. 15 Clast 17. BSE image of breccia clasts (impact melt-rock). Scale bar at lower left is 500 pm. In the middle of the photo is a single white metal grain to show the ongoing occurrence of the metals in the middle of the clasts. The dark grey grains are plagioclase, the intermediate grey is pyroxene and the light grey spots are olivines. The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
relics of pyroxenes left with faint exsolution lamellae visible.
Clast 19 is a sub-rounded clast and >2000 p.m in size. Pyroxene makes up about 80% of
the matrix. This matrix has a quenched crystal texture with very fine elongated crystals, which
differs very much from some of the other impact-melt clasts (such as clast 17) which have larger
(>5 1.Am) crystals which are rounded and coarser. The clast has as <5 kamacite grains, like the
other clasts, with no olivines and troilites.
Clast 20 is sub-angular and < 500 pm in size. The overall texture is inequigranular. The
large grains are subangular to rounded and appear to be partially resorbed. It consists of 6 relict
grains as well as a definite quenched igneous texture. Three of the pyroxene grains have faintly
visible exsolution lamellae. There is one large (>100 pm) plagioclase grain recognisable. The
kamacite in this clast is not found in a few larger clasts (50-100 pm) like clasts 16 and 17 , but
in very low quantities (10 lim) and is absorbed with the plagioclase and low-calcium rich glass.
Clast 22 is a round clast < 500 1.1111 in diameter with many asymmetrically shaped
kamacite grains. The matrix consist of pyroxene grains with almost no other mineral phases
(except kamacite) in this clast such as plagioclase, olivines and Fe-sulphide metals. The
pyroxenes in this matrix display no exsolution lamellae.
Clast 25 is a sub-angular (<1000 pm) clast with one large (<200 pm) pyroxene grain as
well as 13 large plagioclase grains at <200 pm average size. It also has a inequigranular texture.
Only two of the pyroxene clasts have very well defined exsolution lamellae. There is a very fine-
grained quenched melt texture present consisting of pyroxene rich groundmass/matrix.
2.5.2.3 Metal & sulfide-rich breccia clasts; c23
The metal and sulfide-rich breccia clasts contain relatively large amounts of metallic Fe,
Ni or troilite, and are similar to impact melt-rocks described from howardites by Hewins and
25 Fig. 16 Clast 23. Metal and Sulfide rich clast Fig. 17 Clast 23. Metal and sulfide rich clast (BSE image). Scale bar at lower left is 500 um. (BSE image). Scale bar at lower left is The metal and sufide clast is distinctly different 20 rim. The white grains are troilite, the black from all the clast referred to so far. Also notice grains are quartz and the grey grains are the matrix and the clasts surrounding this clast. pyroxene.
Fig. 18 Clast 24. Basaltic clast (granoblastic) (BSE image). Scale bar at lower left is 50 um. The single white grain at the lower right is a metal. The dark-grey grains are plagioclase. The lighter grey grains are pyroxenes. Notice the rounded smooth texture of the grains and the smaller grains which seem to make up the matrix. The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
Klein (1978) and Hewins (1979). Their matrices are microcrystalline like those of other impact
melt rocks.
Clast 23 is rather unique in Malvern, or at least in this sample of Malvern. It is a small
clast (compared to the average clast diameter size of about 500 µm (Figures 16 and 17) and it is
elongate in shape, about 500 i_tm by 100 Clast 23 has a unusual appearance, because it
consists of different minerals than the other clasts (which predominantly consist of plagioclase
and pyroxene). It consists mainly of a silica (98.35 wt % SiO,) and troilite minerals. In <1% of
the troilite grains, which are associated with the pure SiO 2 grains as making up the matrix, there
are Fe-rich olivines in the troilite. There is another area in this clast where >5% of the troilite is
associated with pyroxenes as making up the matrix, and not SiO 2 as was the common matrix
mineral in the other areas.
2.5.3 Mineral fragments
Mineral fragments include pyroxene, plagioclase, Fe-Ni, metal, troilite, chromite,
ilmenite, silica, and olivine. Mineral fragments were found in the sample studied but they were
not as abundant as the clasts and the matrix. The mineral fragments made up approximately <5%
of the phases in the samples of Malvern. Their size ranges from >50gm to about 1 mm and their
shape is anhedral. Very few of these fragments were thoroughly analysed, seeing that they were
single large mineral grains and the intention was to concentrate on the heterogenous composition
of the clasts.
2.5.4 Matrix
The clasts in this sample of Malvern occur randomly in a matrix that consists of an assortment of grain fragments and clasts. The grain fragments and clasts in this rock are <90% made up of pyroxenes, plagioclase and metals. The mineral grains in the matrix that were
26 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite analysed by microprobe were: plagioclase, pyroxenes, Fe-Ni, troilte, olivines, ilmenite, chromite and quartz. Analyses can be found in the Appendix. The matrix has a fragmented texture and is composed of comminuted pyroxene and plagioclase fragments. Fuhrman and Papike (1981) define matrix as consisting of grains <20pm in size (any object >2011m in size was identified and classified into one of the specific types listed above).
2.6 Mineral Compositions as Determined by Electron Microprobe Analysis
Data are shown below in Table 4a for individual mineral grains in their allocated clasts groups. In certain clasts more than one grain was analysed.
Table 4a Mineral Compositions as Determined by Electron Microprobe Analysis
Clast number and type Electron microprobe data of pyroxene,
plagioclase and olivine
Clast 4 (Eucritic) W°26.63-39.80 En27.36-28.90 F S32.83-43.71
Clast 6 (Eucritic) W(3 1.7-34.10 En28.33-50.90 F S22.69-64.75
W°2.62-43.10 En34.20-44.05 F S22.69-53.11
W°6.9-11.9 En28.3-50.9 F S41.05-64.75
Clast 10 (Eucritic) W°4.7-9.8 En53.3-58.8 FS34.09-36.8
W°2.7-7.4 En36.9-50.9 FS42.3-59.5
Clast 11 (Eucritic) W°2.68-9.7 En42.6-46.5 F S46.5-51.4
W047_,1 . 1 E11.33.9_35.9 FS45.0-61.01
W°36.8-45.1 En42.1-46.5 F S P.7-16.7
W°7.9-4.6 En69.7-69.6 F S ,6.7-/7.5
Clast 5 (Cataclastic) W°, .7-41.4 En29.8-37.1 FS27.7-60.9
Clast 12 (Cataclastic) W°3.65-4.209 En64.46-64.979 FS30.92-31.37
W05 .78 E1137. 82 and F S56.40
F00.35_0.37 and F 010.65_0. 63
27 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
Clast 21 (Granoblastic) Wo, 6_3.8 En71.3_71.9 FS"4.8.25A
Clast 1 (Breccia-howardites) W03.03-6.39 En54.72-71A8 FS24.94-39.54
Clast 2 (Breccia-howardites) W00.8-44.0 En40.5-54.05 F S18.6-45.42
W02.1-37.8 En34.9-43.7 F S25.9-54.0
W03.1-4.4 En57.7-66.1 F S30.1-38.2
Clast 13 (Breccia-howardites) W°1.3-8.3 En61.8-71.6 FS77.0-31.9
W05.3-19.1 En33.6-36.2 F S47.2-59.2
W°7.1-47.0 n131.5_38.5 FS26.1 _59.1
Clast 3 (Breccia-impact Melt-rock) W03.61-43.175 En36.20-48.72 F S20.69-47.4
Clast 7 (Breccia-impact Melt-rock) All.78.6_95.5
W02.5-42.4 En35.4-44.1 FS22.3-53.0
W05.1-8.2 En51.7-61.7 F S33.5-41.4
Clast 8 (Breccia-impact Melt-rock) W03.99_7.91 , E1153.5" _60.11 FS35.21-42.48
Clast 9 (Breccia-impact Melt-rock) W0 10.7-15.4 En31.5-34.0 F S52.2-54.7
W0 1.6_3.9 E1153A_54.3 F S41.7-44.8
Clast 16 (Breccia-impact Melt-rock) W0 1.5-10.7 En54.1-58.6 F S35.0-41.5
W07.1-4.8 En45.0-45.9 FS50.7-522
Clast 17 (Breccia-impact Melt-rock) W04.4-8.8 En55.0-63.4 FS32.8-36.8
W07.4-4.3 En54.2-56.9 FS40.6-42.5
Clast 18 (Breccia-impact Melt-rock) W0 1.8-31.6 En33.9-44.1 F S34.5-59.4
Clast 19 (Breccia-impact Melt-rock) W°24 En66 FS31.6
Clast 20 (Breccia-impact Melt-rock) Wo1.43-7.6 En61.8-70.9 FS27.7-35.5
WO1.9-5.8 En46.7-50.8 FS46.7-49.8
Clast 25 (Breccia-impact Melt-rock) W0 13.9-42.8 En,9.7-34.2 F S27.3-51.8
W03.5.5.8 E1135.1 _36.3 FS58.9.61.3
W03.9.9.8 E1134.9_36.6 FS53.5.61.1
W°24.6-42.1 En30.3-32.1 FS77.5-43.3
WO3A.3.9 D135.5_37.3 F S59.0_60.5
28 The Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Clasts in the Malvern Howardite
Clast 22 W033.6-38.9 En40.2-43.8 FS20.8-23.3
(Metal and Sulphide-rich Breccia)
Clast 23 W00.9-1.0 En43.4-43.6 FS55.2-55.6
(Breccia-impact Melt-rock)
Plagioclase all clasts An 78.60-95.50
Troilite all clasts Fe 57.35-63.00 S 35.96-38.06
Kamacite and Taenite all clasts Fe 88.97-96.00 Ni 3.5-6.6
Ilmenite all clasts TiO, 48.70-51.99 Fe 41.29-44.46
In Clast 5 the calcium content of clinopyroxene decreased from the outside of the grain to the inside. The microprobe analyses were done at 211m intervals (8 spots). This can be seen in the vertical distribution of the analyses WO2 7_41 4 En,9 8.371 FS,7 7_60 9 (Fig. 20)
Two grains from clast 2 also had clear exsolution lamellae. A pyroxene grain without exsolution lamellae shows variable iron content Wo3.1-4.4 En57.2-66.1 FS30.1 _38.2 relative to a change in Ca. A grain without lamellae showed a decrease in iron content from the outside to the inside of the grain.
The matrix of clast 7 is composed of fine-grained plagioclase (A1178.6_95.5 ) and pyroxene grains. A second grain (all the pyroxenes are part of the melted matrix but may be from different grains) without any exsolution lamellae, plot with a change in iron content but shows stable calcium composition W05.1 .8.2 En51.7_61.2 FS33.5_41.4. The pyroxenes in clast 17 do not show any exsolution lamellae but has a content of Wo4.4_8.8En55.0-63A FS3,.8_36.8 and W01.4_4.3 E1154.2_56.9 FS 40.6-42.5.
Two pyroxene grains were analysed in clast 20. One of the pyroxenes without exsolution lamellae showed a change in iron content Wo l 43_2 6 El-161 8_70 9 FS27 7_35 5.
A grain in clast 25 with exsolution lamellae was analysed along visible lamellae. The result showed a change in Ca content W0 13 9_4, 8 Ell.29 7_34 2 FS27 3_51 8.
29 Eucrite (Basaltic) clasts