Discovery of Meteoritic Eringaite, Ca_3(Sc,Y,Ti)_2Si_3O_(12), the First Solar Garnet?

• Main Author: Ma, Chi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Meteoritical Society 2012
• Subjects: Sakha; Yakutia; Yakutia Republic
• Online Access: https://authors.library.caltech.edu/34641/; https://authors.library.caltech.edu/34641/1/A9R9102.pdf; https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20121002-150451893

During a nano-mineralogy investigation of the Vigarano CV3 meteorite, eringaite Ca_3(Sc,Y,Ti)_2Si_3O_(12) was identified in a cluster of ultra-refractory inclusion fragments within a shattered amoeboid olivine aggregate in VCM3. Eringaite is a newly-discovered garnet-group mineral in metasomatic rodingite-like rocks from the Wiluy River, Sakha-Yakutia Republic, Russia [I]. Reported here is the second natural occurrence of eringaite, as a new ultra-refractory mineral in a primitive meteorite, among the earliest solids formed in the solar nebula. Field-emission SEM, electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) and electron microprobe were used to characterize its composition and structure and associated phases.