Ureilite smelting

Abstract

Abstract— Ureilites containing homogeneous Fo76 olivine cores in intimate co‐existence with graphite must have recrystallized at pressures of at least ∼100 bars to suppress smelting of the fayalite component of the olivine to Fe metal. Smelting of olivine and pyroxene‐saturated magmatic liquids produces orthopyroxene‐without‐olivine crystalline derivatives unlike those in ureilites. Thus the Mg# compositional variation within the ureilite suite, which is commonly attributed to partial smelting, cannot plausibly be produced by assemblages rich in liquid. In situ smelting of graphitic olivine + pigeonite crystal mushes can produce the correct crystal assemblage, but fails to provide a plausible account for the removal of metal from ureilites or for the correlation of Mg# with Δ17O. Even if Mg# and Δ17O variations are established in the nebula, ureilite recrystallization with graphite must have occurred at pressures greater than the minima we have experimentally established, corresponding to parent objects not less than ∼100 km in radius.