Euhedral tetrataenite in the Jelica meteorite

Abstract

AbstractA 65 × 107 µm grain of euhedral tetrataenite (ordered FeNi) attached to a similarly sized grain of troilite occurs within an impact-melt rock clast in the Jelica LL6 chondrite breccia. After impact melting, immiscible metallic Fe-Ni and troilite droplets formed within the silicate melt progenitor of the clast. At ⩾1200°C while the surrounding silicate was still partly molten, euhedral taenite with ∼ 50 wt.% Ni began crystallizing in one of the metal-troilite droplets. Troilite nucleated at one edge of the euhedral taenite grain and began to crystallize at ∼870°C. At 320°C the metal phase underwent an ordering reaction and formed tetrataenite. The unrecrystallized clast-host boundary and the differences in olivine composition and degree of polycrystallinity of troilite between the clast and Jelica host indicate that the clast was incorporated into Jelica during a late-stage brecciation event.