Mineralogical characterization of an eucrite Serra Pelada by Raman and XRD

Abstract

Serra Pelada is a newly discovered eucrite from an observed fall. Eucrites belong to the meteorite group HED. The HED represent the largest clan among the achondrites, which are extraterrestrial rocks that have gone through the process of planetary differentiation. Although few specific asteroids have been identified as meteorite sources, there is an association between asteroid (4) Vesta and the Howardite, Eucrite, Diogenite (HED) clan of achondrites. The main objective of this work is to characterize the mineralogical composition of the Serra Pelada eucrite and verify if it is petrologically consistent with eucrite meteorites. Raman and X-ray diffraction were used to search for mineralogical information. The main reason for using both techniques is the rapid acquisition of data and because they are considered non-destructive techniques. The results obtained through the techniques of Raman and XRD generated information on the chemical and mineralogical compositions consistent with those of an eucrite meteorite. Furthermore, the information generated by both techniques, as well as with existing data on the asteroid (4) Vesta, contributed greatly to better understand the Serra Pelada eucrite and its relation with its parental body. Currently, there is no article published in an international journal that has characterized the Serra Pelada meteorite, providing mineralogical information on the material. The characterization of the mineralogical composition of the Serra Pelada eucrite is important to understand the process of origin, formation and evolution of differentiated planetaries bodies such as (4) Vesta, which can even generate relevant information for terrestrial planets like Earth.