Creating Calibration Curves to Determine Shock Pressure in Clinopyroxene

Impact cratering is an important geological process that occurs on every rocky body in the solar system. It alters the texture and mineralogy of rocks via shock metamorphism. The peak shock pressures experienced by a rock are traditionally evaluated using qualitative optical methods however, quantitative methods do exist. One such method was developed by Uchizono et al., who used X-ray Diffraction (XRD) to measure lattice strain (ε) in several artificially shocked olivine grains using XRD peak broadening as a function of tan θ, where θ is the diffraction angle. They plotted the ε values against the known peak shock pressures experienced by the olivine grains. Using this calibration curve, the precise shock pressure experienced by a grain of olivine can be determined using its measured ε value. Another method was developed by McCausland et al. and Izawa et al., who used in situ XRD to measure strain-related mosaicity (SRM) of olivine in several ordinary chondrites and enstatite in enstatite chondrites, respectively. They plotted these results against the shock stage estimates for these meteorites. Using these plots, meteorites can be assigned to shock stage bins by measuring the SRM of olivine and/or enstatite. Both methods are useful for evaluating shock metamorphism, however, they have limitations. Uchizono et al.’s calibration curve has been successfully applied to martian meteorites, however it can only be applied to olivine-bearing rocks. McCausland et al.’s and Izawa et al.’s SRM method is uncalibrated and is limited to binning meteorites by shock stage. This work aims to expand on both methods by creating calibration curves for clinopyroxene (CPX): one for ε, similar to Uchizono et al.’s calibration curve for olivine, and one for SRM. This will extend the application of shock calibration methods to a greater variety of rock types. Preliminary results are presented herein.