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Title: Aqueous alteration of pyroxene in sulfate, chloride, and perchlorate brines: Implications for post-Noachian aqueous alteration on Mars
Award ID(s):
1736255
PAR ID:
10165400
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Volume:
257
Issue:
C
ISSN:
0016-7037
Page Range / eLocation ID:
336 to 353
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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  1. Abstract We have carried out a SEM‐EPMA‐TEM study to determine the textures and compositions of relict primary iron sulfides and their alteration products in a suite of moderately to heavily altered CM1 carbonaceous chondrites. We observed four textural groups of altered primary iron sulfides: (1) pentlandite+phyllosilicate (2P) grains, characterized by pentlandite with submicron lenses of phyllosilicates; (2) pyrrhotite+pentlandite+magnetite (PPM) grains, characterized by pyrrhotite–pentlandite exsolution textures with magnetite veining and secondary pentlandite; (3) pentlandite+serpentine (PS) grains, characterized by relict pentlandite exsolution, serpentine, and secondary pentlandite; and (4) pyrrhotite+pentlandite+magnetite+serpentine (PPMS) grains, characterized by features of both the PPM and PS grains. We have determined that all four groups were initially primary iron sulfides, which formed from crystallization of immiscible sulfide melts within silicate chondrules in the solar nebula. The fact that such different alteration products could result from the same precursor sulfides within even the same meteorite sample further underscores the complexity of the aqueous alteration environment for the CM chondrites. The different alteration reactions for each textural group place constraints on the mechanisms and conditions of alteration with evidence for acidic environments, oxidizing environments, and changing fluid compositions (Ni‐bearing and Si‐Mg‐bearing). 
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