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“Spherulite-like” jadeite growth in shock-melt veins
of the Novosibirsk H5/6 chondrite
I.S. Bazhan
a,
*
, Shin Ozawa
b
, M. Miyahara
c
, E. Ohtani
a,b
, K.D. Litasov
a,d
a
V.S. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
pr. Akademika Koptyuga 3, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
b
Department of Earth and Planetary Materials Science, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan
c
Department of Earth and Planetary Systems Science, Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan
d
Novosibirsk State University, ul. Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
Received 3 December 2015; accepted 26 April 2016
Abstract
The Novosibirsk H5/6 ordinary chondrite has signs of shock metamorphism, such as dark shock-melt veins (SMVs) crossing the chondrite
host rock. The plagioclase composition grains (Ab
78
An
14
Or
7
) with jadeite were found in the host-rock fragments inside the SMVs. Jadeite
has an unusual radial-concentric spherulite-like microtexture. The spherulite-like jadeite formed from the molten plagioclase grain under
high-pressure and high-temperature conditions during an impact event. The crystallization was accompanied by sodium–potassium
differentiation between coexisting jadeite and residual melt. The PT-conditions of jadeite formation were estimated to be 3–14 GPa and
1400–2150 ºC. Jadeite crystallization, Na–K differentiation, and the pressure–temperature estimates of jadeite formation in the Novosibirsk
chondrite are very close to those in the Chelyabinsk LL5 chondrite. The spherulite-like microtexture and jadeite–glass coexistence, most likely,
point to a high cooling rate of the SMVs at the pressure release stage of the metamorphic process.
© 2016, V.S. Sobolev IGM, Siberian Branch of the RAS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Novosibirsk H5/6 chondrite; jadeite; plagioclase melt; shock metamorphism; spherulite-like microtexture
Introduction
Jadeite is one of the most common high-pressure minerals
in the metamorphic, impacted rocks, and shocked ordinary
chondrites. James (1969) reported a shock-induced jadeite in
the impact rocks of Ries crater, Germany. Kimura et al. (2000)
first described an extraterrestrial jadeite formed from albitic
feldspar in the shocked Yamato 75100 H6 chondrite. Later,
jadeites have been identified in many shocked chondrites
(Acosta-Maeda et al., 2013; Kimura et al., 2001; Miyahara
et al., 2011, 2013; Ohtani et al., 2004; Ozawa et al., 2009,
2014; Zhang et al., 2006). High-pressure and high-temperature
static experiments indicate that jadeite forms as a result of
albite dissociation reaction: albite = jadeite + silica at pressures
above 3 GPa and temperature >1000 °C (Bell and Roseboom,
1969; Birch and LeComte, 1960; Holland, 1980; Liu, 1978).
Although a silica phase should accompany jadeite accord-
ing to the stoichiometry of feldspar, only jadeite can be
identified in the originally plagioclase grains in the shock-melt
veins (SMVs) of the chondrites. The issue of missing silica
has been repeatedly discussed in several papers (James, 1969;
Kimura et al., 2000; Kubo et al., 2010, Miyahara et al., 2013;
Ozawa et al., 2009, 2014; Zhang et al., 2006).
In addition, jadeite-bearing albitic feldspar grains in the
natural shocked samples show a variety of microtextures such
as “particle-like”, “stringer-like”, and “needle-like” (Ozawa et
al., 2009, 2014) that suggest individual PT-histories for each
microtexture formation. A pressure and temperature induced
by a planetesimal collision depends on size, density and
relative speed of individual asteroid. The differences in these
parameters would induce formation and variety of crystal
habits of high-pressure minerals including jadeite.
The Novosibirsk meteorite is an ordinary H5/6 chondrite
found on the eastern outskirts of the city of Novosibirsk in
1978. The first detailed study of the Novosibirsk meteorite
was made by M.I. Petaev (Petaev, 1990; Petaev et al., 1990),
who investigated petrology, mineralogy and chemistry of the
meteorite in detail. Evidences of the shock metamorphism
were reported, i.e., presence of melt pockets and shock veins,
strong fracturing of minerals, wavy and block extinction of
Russian Geology and Geophysics 58 (2017) 12–19
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ibazhan@gmail.com (I.S. Bazhan)
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
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ed. 1068-7971/$ - see front matter D 201 IGM, Siberian Branch of the RAS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserv V S. . S bolev o ,
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