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Experimentally Determined Subsolidus Metal-Olivine Element Partitioning with Applications to Pallasites.

ABSTRACT: Pallasite meteorites, which consist primarily of olivine and metal, may be remnants of disrupted core-mantle boundaries of differentiated asteroids or planetesimals. The early thermal histories of pallasites are potentially recorded by minor- and trace-element zonation in olivine. However, constraining this history requires knowledge of element behavior under the conditions of pallasite formation, which is lacking for many of the main elements of interest (e.g., Co, Cr, Mn). In this study, we experimentally determined metal/olivine partition coefficients for Fe, Ni, Co, Cr, and Mn in a pallasite analogue at subsolidus temperatures. Metal/olivine partition coefficients (KM ) increase in the order KMn < KCr < 1 < KFe < KCo < KNi , with five orders of magnitude separating KMn from KNi . Transition metals also become more siderophile with increasing experimental temperature (900 to 1550°C). The experiments incidentally produced diffusion profiles in olivine for these elements; Our results suggest they diffuse through olivine at similar rates. Core compositions of pallasite olivines are consistent with high-temperature equilibration with FeNi-metal. Olivine zonation toward crystal rims varies significantly for the investigated transition metals. We suggest rim zonation results from partial re-equilibration during late stage crystallization of minor phases (e.g., chromite, phosphates). This re- equilibration occurred over short timescales relative to overall pallasite cooling, likely tied to initial cooling rates on the order of 100-300°C/Myr.

SUBMITTER: Donohue PH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5932634 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Experimentally Determined Subsolidus Metal-Olivine Element Partitioning with Applications to Pallasites.

Donohue Patrick H PH Hill Eddy E Huss Gary R GR

Geochimica et cosmochimica acta 20171101

Pallasite meteorites, which consist primarily of olivine and metal, may be remnants of disrupted core-mantle boundaries of differentiated asteroids or planetesimals. The early thermal histories of pallasites are potentially recorded by minor- and trace-element zonation in olivine. However, constraining this history requires knowledge of element behavior under the conditions of pallasite formation, which is lacking for many of the main elements of interest (e.g., Co, Cr, Mn). In this study, we ex ...[more]

PMID: 29731517

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Project description:We report the results of experiments designed to separate the effects of temperature and pressure from liquid composition on the partitioning of Ni between olivine and liquid, [Formula: see text]. Experiments were performed from 1300 to 1600 °C and 1 atm to 3.0 GPa, using mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) glass surrounded by powdered olivine in graphite-Pt double capsules at high pressure and powdered MORB in crucibles fabricated from single crystals of San Carlos olivine at one atmosphere. In these experiments, pressure and temperature were varied in such a way that we produced a series of liquids, each with an approximately constant composition (~12, ~15, and ~21 wt% MgO). Previously, we used a similar approach to show that [Formula: see text] for a liquid with ~18 wt% MgO is a strong function of temperature. Combining the new data presented here with our previous results allows us to separate the effects of temperature from composition. We fit our data based on a Ni-Mg exchange reaction, which yields [Formula: see text] Each subset of constant composition experiments displays roughly the same temperature dependence of [Formula: see text] (i.e.,[Formula: see text]) as previously reported for liquids with ~18 wt% MgO. Fitting new data presented here (15 experiments) in conjunction with our 13 previously published experiments (those with ~18 wt% MgO in the silicate liquid) to the above expression gives [Formula: see text] = 3641 ± 396 (K) and [Formula: see text] = - 1.597 ± 0.229. Adding data from the literature yields [Formula: see text] = 4505 ± 196 (K) and [Formula: see text] = - 2.075 ± 0.120, a set of coefficients that leads to a predictive equation for [Formula: see text] applicable to a wide range of melt compositions. We use the results of our work to model the melting of peridotite beneath lithosphere of varying thickness and show that: (1) a positive correlation between NiO in magnesian olivine phenocrysts and lithospheric thickness is expected given a temperature-dependent [Formula: see text] and (2) the magnitude of the slope for natural samples is consistent with our experimentally determined temperature dependence. Alternative processes to generate the positive correlation between NiO in magnesian olivines and lithospheric thickness, such as the melting of olivine-free pyroxenite, are possible, but they are not required to explain the observed correlation of NiO concentration in initially crystallizing olivine with lithospheric thickness.

Dataset Information

Experimentally Determined Subsolidus Metal-Olivine Element Partitioning with Applications to Pallasites.

Publications

Experimentally Determined Subsolidus Metal-Olivine Element Partitioning with Applications to Pallasites.

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