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Response of silicate chemical composition variation on thermal metamorphism of ordinary chondrites and classification of petrologic types: the case of L chondrites from Grove Mountains, Antarctica

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Abstract

Analysis of the thermal metamorphism of the ordinary chondrites is a key premise for gaining insights into the accretion and heating of rocky bodies in the early solar system. Such an analysis also represents an essential condition for constraining the early thermal and evolutionary histories of asteroids and terrestrial planets. Classifying ordinary chondrites into petrologic type (type 3–6) is the criterion for studying the thermal metamorphism of their parent bodies. However, the boundary between the unequilibrated (type 3) and equilibrated (type 4–6) chondrites is ambiguous at present, thus, limiting the understanding of their thermal metamorphism. In this study, the petrology, mineralogy and chemical composition of a set of seven ordinary chondrites with different degrees of thermal metamorphism collected from Grove Mountains (Antarctica) have been studied. The results demonstrated that these chondrite samples were L3.7, L3.8, L3.9, L3.9/4, L4, L5 and L6 type meteorites, with optimal correlations of Si, Mg, Fe, Mn and Ca with equilibrium degree of the olivine and low-calcium pyroxene and petrologic type. In this respect, the multi-parameter classification standard PMD (SiO2)-PMD (MgO)-PMD (MnO)-PMD (CaO) based on the percent mean deviation (PMD) of the chemical compositions of the olivine and low-calcium pyroxene was proposed to distinguish between the unequilibrated and equilibrated meteorites. The proposed standard exhibited high "resolution" in terms of classification, thus, also deepening the understanding of the effect of the silicate mineral composition in the thermal metamorphism of chondrites.

Highlights

  • The chemical groups and petrologic types of the selected seven Antarctic chondrites were L3.7, L3.8, L3.9, L3.9/4, L4, L5 and L6.

  • A new method for petrologic type classification is proposed to distinguish the unequilibrated and equilibrated chondrites.

  • The above developed multi-parameter system exhibited high "resolution" in terms of classification.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Polar Research Institute of China and the Resource-sharing Platform of Polar Samples for the allocation of the meteorites samples. We also thank two anonymous reviewers and editors for their helpful comments and suggestions. In addition, we thank Dr. Ranjith P.M. for his help on the English writing of this study.

Funding

This research was funded by Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB 41000000), Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M673557XB), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation under Grant No. 2020JJB150056, Civil Aerospace Pre Research Project (D020302 and D020206), Guangxi Scientific Base and Talent Special Projects (No. AD1850007), Foundation of Guilin University of Technology (GUTQDJJ2019165) and the grant from Key Laboratory of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, CAS (LDSE201907).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institution of Meteorites and Planetary Materials Research, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541006, China

    Chuantong Zhang, Bingkui Miao & Zhipeng Xia

  2. Key Laboratory of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Chuantong Zhang

  3. Key Laboratory of Planetary Geological Evolution At Universities of Guangxi Province, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541006, China

    Chuantong Zhang, Bingkui Miao & Zhipeng Xia

  4. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541006, China

    Chuantong Zhang & Qinglin Xie

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  1. Chuantong Zhang
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  2. Bingkui Miao
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Contributions

Writing—original draft preparation, Chuantong Zhang; writing—review and editing, Bingkui Miao; data curation, Zhipeng Xia and Qinglin Xie. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bingkui Miao.

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Zhang, C., Miao, B., Xia, Z. et al. Response of silicate chemical composition variation on thermal metamorphism of ordinary chondrites and classification of petrologic types: the case of L chondrites from Grove Mountains, Antarctica. Acta Geochim 40, 895–911 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-021-00476-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-021-00476-0

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