Olivine-rich Achondrites from Vesta and the Missing Mantle Problem

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2021 Sep 15

PMID 34521838

Citations 1

Authors

Zoltan Vaci

James M D Day

Marine Paquet

Karen Ziegler

Qing-Zhu Yin

Supratim Dey

Audrey Miller

Carl Agee

Rainer Bartoschewitz

Andreas Pack

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Mantles of rocky planets are dominantly composed of olivine and its high-pressure polymorphs, according to seismic data of Earth's interior, the mineralogy of natural samples, and modelling results. The missing mantle problem represents the paucity of olivine-rich material among meteorite samples and remote observation of asteroids, given how common differentiated planetesimals were in the early Solar System. Here we report the discovery of new olivine-rich meteorites that have asteroidal origins and are related to V-type asteroids or vestoids. Northwest Africa 12217, 12319, and 12562 are dunites and lherzolite cumulates that have siderophile element abundances consistent with origins on highly differentiated asteroidal bodies that experienced core formation, and with trace element and oxygen and chromium isotopic compositions associated with the howardite-eucrite-diogenite meteorites. These meteorites represent a step towards the end of the shortage of olivine-rich material, allowing for full examination of differentiation processes acting on planetesimals in the earliest epoch of the Solar System.

Citing Articles

Igneous meteorites suggest Aluminium-26 heterogeneity in the early Solar Nebula.

Krestianinov E, Amelin Y, Yin Q, Cary P, Huyskens M, Miller A Nat Commun. 2023; 14(1):4940.

PMID: 37643999 PMC: 10465487. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40026-1.

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