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Diffusive modification of primary zoning in olivine cores in Angrite LEW 87051Angrite LEW 87051 consists of large olivine crystals set in a fine-grained groundmass that clearly represents a crystallized melt. A few olivines contain Ca-poor, Cr-rich cores that crystallized from a very different melt than the outer part of the crystals constituting the majority of olivine in LEW 87051. We evaluate a model in which the cores formed through fractional crystallization of one melt, then were incorporated into a different melt as xenocrysts, whereupon the original zoning patterns were modified by diffusion. Using a similar approach, we calculate zoning patterns for the cores that would result from perfect fractional crystallization, compare them with the observed zoning, and determine whether the differences could result from diffusive modification consistent with known diffusion rates for Ca, Mn, and Cr. Using distribution coefficients from the 1400 C, IW + 1 experiments, we computed CaO, Cr2O3, and MnO abundances in the hypothetical parent melt by inverting the olivine at the centers of the cores. We further assumed that the primary zoning profile for CaO is essentially unmodified, because the diffusion rate of Ca in olivine is slow. We carried out the fractional crystallization calculation until the calculated Ca content was that observed at break in zoning profiles at the outer edge of the core. We then normalized the distance of this calculated profile to the length of the observed profile in the olivine core and calculated profiles for MnO and Cr2O3. The CaO zoning profile agrees well with the observed profile. The observed MnO profile is slightly higher than the calculated profile near the edge. Diffusion calculations indicate that reversal of the general trend of primary zoning through diffusion would require that diffusion of Cr is 5-10x faster than that of Mn.
Document ID
19950042187
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Mikouchi, T.
(University of Tokyo Hongo, Japan)
Mckay, G.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, US, United States)
Miyamoto, M.
(University of Tokyo Hongo, Japan)
Takeda, H.
(University of Tokyo Hongo, Japan)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
July 1, 1994
Publication Information
Publication: Meteoritics
Volume: 29
Issue: 4
ISSN: 0026-1114
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
95A73786
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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