Petrology and mineralogy of the Yamato‐86751 CV3 chondrite

Abstract

Abstract— The Y‐86751 chondrite (CV3) consists of fine‐grained Ca‐ and Al‐rich inclusions (CAIs), amoeboid olivine inclusions (AOIs), spinel‐rich inclusions, chondrules with and without dark rims, dark inclusions, isolated minerals, metal‐sulfide aggregates, and matrix. Olivines in chondrules without dark rims and AOIs coexist with magnetite and show strong zoning from a magnesian core to a ferroan rim. Spinels in spinel‐rich inclusions show similar zoning. This zoning seems to be caused by exchange reaction of olivine and spinel with an oxidized nebular gas prior to the accretion onto the parent body, and the Mg/Fe diffusion in olivines and spinels took place at a temperature of about 830–860 K. At the same time, enstatite in chondrules without dark rims was replaced by ferroan olivine at the grain boundaries. This feature suggests that chondrules without dark rims, fine‐grained CAIs, spinel‐rich inclusions, and AOIs have experienced oxidation in an oxidizing nebular gas. The oxygen fugacity of the oxidized nebular gas was >10−27.3 bars at about 830 K, being more than 104x larger than that of the canonical nebular gas. Magnetite occurs in the Y‐86751 matrix in close association with Ni‐rich taenite and Co‐rich metal, and it was produced under a condition with the oxygen fugacity of ∼10−38 bars at a temperature of about 620–650 K. On the other hand, olivines in chondrules with dark rims and dark inclusions are magnesian and rich in MnO. They do not show such strong zoning. Probably they were in equilibrium with a nebular gas under a redox condition different from the oxidized nebular gas that produced the zoned olivines in chondrules without dark rims.