The aqueous alteration of GEMS-like amorphous silicate in a chondritic micrometeorite by Antarctic water

• Published in: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
• Main Authors: Suttle M. D., Folco L., Genge M. J., Franchi I. A., Campanale F., Mugnaioli E., Zhao X.
• Other Authors: Suttle, M, Folco, L, Genge, M, Franchi, I, Campanale, F, Mugnaioli, E, Zhao, X
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2021
• Subjects: Antarctica; Aqueous alteration; GEMS; Micrometeorite; Weathering; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/415857; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2020.11.006

We analysed the heterogenous fine-grained (sub-μm) matrix of a small (58 × 93 μm), unmelted and minimally heated (<350 °C) micrometeorite (CP94-050-052) recovered from Antarctic blue ice. This particle contains some unaltered highly primitive phases, including refractory anhydrous high-Mg silicates and submicron crystalline needle-shaped acicular grains interpreted as enstatite whiskers. The particle also contains an abundance of micron-sized Fe-rich grains, which span a compositional and textural continuum between amorphous oxygen-rich silicate and poorly crystalline Fe-rich phyllosilicate (cronstedtite). These Fe-rich grains are here interpreted as secondary phases formed by aqueous alteration. Their inferred anhydrous precursors were likely primitive “GEMS-like” amorphous Fe-Mg-silicates. This micrometeorite's bulk chemical composition and mineralogy suggest either a carbonaceous chondrite or cometary origin. However, the particle's average O-isotope composition (δ17O: −12.4‰ [±5.0‰], δ18O: −24.0‰ [±2.3‰] and Δ17O at +0.1‰ [±4.8‰] is distinct from all previously measured chondritic materials. Instead this value is intermediate between primitive chondritic materials and the composition of Antarctic water – strongly implying that the particle was heavily affected by Antarctic alteration. Analysis of the micrometeorite's H-isotopes reveals low deuterium abundances (δD: −217‰ to −173‰ [±43–47‰]) paired with high H abundances (and thus high water contents [<25 wt.%]). Although both water contents and H-isotope compositions overlap with those reported in CM chondrites, the datapoints measured from CP94-050-052 extend to more extreme values. Further supporting the idea that the aqueous alteration that affected this micrometeorite operated under different environmental conditions to asteroidal settings. These data collectively demonstrate partial isotopic exchange with light (δ18O-poor, δD-poor) terrestrial fluids whilst the micrometeorite resided in Antarctica. Although this micrometeorite may have been ...