Aqueous alteration of meteorite parent bodies: Possible role of unfrozen water and the Antarctic meteorite analogy

Based on oxygen isotrophy the alteration of CM2 chondrites could occur at or near O C (273 K). Such a scenario can be understood if C chondrite parent bodies evolved as rock/ice mixtures that contained unfrozen (mobile or quasi-liquid below 273K) pure water, a well known phenomenon in cold soils on...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gooding, J. L.
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:unknown
Published: 1984
Subjects:
91
Online Access:http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19850007308
Description
Summary:Based on oxygen isotrophy the alteration of CM2 chondrites could occur at or near O C (273 K). Such a scenario can be understood if C chondrite parent bodies evolved as rock/ice mixtures that contained unfrozen (mobile or quasi-liquid below 273K) pure water, a well known phenomenon in cold soils on Earth. The importance of unfrozen water diagenesis in C chondrite history can be tested by a combined program of experimental simulations and petrologic study of analogous features developed by weathering of meteorites in or an Antarctic ice.