Mbosi: An anomalous iron with unique silicate inclusions

Abstract

Abstract— The Mbosi iron meteorite contains millimeter size silicate inclusions. Mbosi is an ungrouped iron meteorite with a Ge/Ga ratio >10, which is an anomalous property shared with the five‐member IIF iron group, the Eagle Station pallasites and four other ungrouped irons. Neither the IIF group nor the four other ungrouped irons are known to have silicate inclusions. Chips from three Mbosi inclusions were studied, but most of the work concentrated on a whole 3.1 mm circular inclusion. This inclusion consists of a mantle and a central core of different mineralogies. The mantle is partially devitrified quartz‐normative glass, consisting of microscopic crystallites of two pyroxenes and plagioclase, which are crystalline enough to give an x‐ray powder diffraction pattern but not coarse enough to permit analyses of individual minerals. The core consists of silica. The bulk composition does not match any known meteorite type, although there is a similarity in mode of occurrence to quartz‐normative silicate inclusions in some HE irons. Mbosi silicate appears to be unique. The bulk rare earth element (REE) pattern of the mantle is flat at ≅ 7×C1; the core is depleted in REE but shows a small positive Eu anomaly. The O‐isotope composition of bulk silicate lies on a unit slope mixing line (parallel and close to the C3 mixing line) that includes the Eagle Station pallasites and the iron Bocaiuva (related to the IIF irons); all of these share the property of having Ge/Ga ratios >10. It is concluded that Mbosi silicate represents a silica‐bearing source rock that was melted and injected into metal. Melting occurred early in the history of the parent body because the metal now shows a normal Widmanstätten structure with only minor distortion that was caused when the parent body broke up and released meteorites into interplanetary space. The cause of Ge/Ga ratios being >10 in these irons is unknown. The fact that silicates in Mbosi, Bocaiuva (related to IIF irons) and the Eagle Station trio of pallasites, all characterized by a Ge/Ga ratio >10, lie on a unit slope mixing line in the O‐isotope diagram suggests that their origins are closely related. The C3 chondrites appear to be likely precursors for silicates in Mbosi, Bocaiuva and the Eagle Station pallasites.