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A STUDY ON THE FUSION CRUST OF METEORITE

Wang Kui-ren, Hong Ji-an   

  1. Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Advanced Center for Earth Sciences & Astronomy, University of Science&Technology of China. Third World Academy of Science; Hefei, 230026
  • Received:1995-06-20 Revised:1995-06-20 Online:1995-12-20 Published:1995-12-20

Abstract: In the present paper, the fusion crust of Boxian meteorite is analysed by several methods. Based on the chemical composition and compared with the whole meteorite, it can be found that the redox state of Fe in the fusion crust has changed: the amount of metal iron and FeS decreases, while that of Fe increases, and new phases wustite and magnetite are formed. The phase analysis by X-ray powder diffraction shows that all the olivine in the fusion crust is forsterite compared to chrysolite in the internal meteorite because of phase transformation and phase rebuilding at high tempratures. In the meantime. the cell volume of the three dominant minerals in the fusion crust is larger than that inside the meteorite. The crystallographic parameters of all these three minerals decrease in one direction, and increase or keep constant in the other two directions. All these are concordant with one-direction stress. Due to the shock pressure, the minerals suffered one-dimensional crystal compression. The infrared spectrum pattern of the fusion crust reveals the occurrence of diaplectic glass, which indicates that the sh0ck pressure is higher than 53.0 GPa. The SEM micro-images of the fusion crust give a perfect section, which shows that the crust can he divided into three layers from the surface inwards: glassy layer, proous layer and transitional layer. The outer layer-s made up entirely of glass, about 50m thick, and it is a real fusion crust. The mid-layer is porous, about 210~m thick. The internal layer, about 250μm thick, is similar to that inside the meteorite except the grain sizes of the minerals. In these three layers, the grain size is of micrometer scale, unlike that in the internal meteorite. The absence of chondrules indicates that the fusion crust suffered breaking action under high shock pressure. The occurrence of the real fusion glass indicates that melting did take place in the fusion crust due to high temperature. The pores are formed due to extracting action. In summary the fusion crust has been modified by the following processes: oxidation, shock, breaking, melting and extraction. All these results can give guides to the research of some aerospace materials.