Metallography and thermal history of the Tieschitz unequilibrated meteorite — Metallic chondrules and the origin of polycrystalline taenite

Abstract

It has been an enigma that in the Tieschitz, H3, and other unequilibrated chondrites the silicates show quench textures yet their metallic minerals, according to the Wood [6] model, appear to have cooled extremely slowly.In Tieschitz, spherical metallic chondrules up to 500 μm in diameter, with textures indicating an origin as liquid droplets, consist of polycrystalline intergrowths of α(kamacite), γ(taenite) and troilite. Interface Ni compositions of contiguous α (∼5 wt.%) and γ (∼50 wt.%) grains define equilibrium tie-line relationships in the Fe-Ni system indicating equilibration to ∼350°C (620 K). Polycrystalline γ(taenite) is multi-zoned with respect to Ni and is interpreted as the relict of a primary solidification structure. A mechanism whereby Ni compositional heterogeneities were produced in γ(taenite) by the rapid, non-equilibrium cooling of FeNiS melts during chondrule formation is discussed.Comparisons with lunar metal globules indicate solidification rates for Tieschitz metallic chondrules in the range 1–106 K/s. It is suggested that before or during aggregation, sub-solidus cooling in the temperature range ∼700–1400°C with cooling times of days to weeks allowed the preservation of a relict solidification structure in metallic chondrules. At a temperature of ∼700°C accretion and shallow burial (1–10 m) on the surface of the Tieschitz parent body provided insulation with slower cooling required to nucleate and grow α(kamacite) from the heterogeneous γ(taenite) under equilibrium conditions by the process of solid state diffusion proposed by Wood [6]. The cooling rate (1 K/106 yr) through 500°C derived using the Wood model is shown to be an underestimate of the real cooling rate of Tieschitz metal through that temperature, since it does not take into account Ni heterogeneities produced at higher temperatures. A rough estimate of the post-accretional cooling rate is obtained from the average size of α(kamacite) grains(<100 μm) andTeqα ∼ 350°C indicating a cooling rate of the order of<1K/103yr through 500°C.