• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.131-139
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• 2016

Detailed knowledge on maskelynite, a glassy phase of plagioclase found in shocked meteorites and impact craters, is essential to understand a shock metamorphism. Here, we explore an inhomogeneous shock metamorphism in the lunar meteorite Mount DeWitt (DEW) 12007 with an aim to understand the formation mechanism of maskelynite. Most plagioclase grains in the DEW 12007 partially amorphized into maskelynite with a unidirectional orientation. Back-scattered electron (BSE) images of maskelynite show a remnant of planar deformation fracture possibly indicating that the maskelynite would be formed by solid-state transformation(i.e., diaplectic glass). Plagioclase with flow texture is also observed along the rim of maskelynite, which would be a result of recrystallization of melted plagioclase. Results of Raman experiments suggest that shock pressure for plagioclase and maskelynite in the DEW 12007 is approximately 5-32 GPa and 26-45 GPa, respectively. The difference in shock pressures between plagioclase and maskelynite can be originated from 1) external factors such as inhomogeneous shock pressure and/or 2) internal factors such as chemical composition and porosity of rock. Unfortunately, Raman spectroscopy has a limitation in revealing the detailed atomic structure of maskelynite such as development of six- or five-coordinated aluminum atom upon various shock pressure. Further studies using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy are necessary to understand the formation mechanism of maskelynite under high pressure.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.73.1-73.1
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• 2018

We investigated shock history of three achondrite meteorites: NWA 3117, a howardite from asteroid Vesta, NWA 2727, a breccia from the Moon, and NWA 856, a shergottite from Mars. Shock histories were evaluated from deformation of plagioclase feldspars. Feldspar grains were classified based on observations in cross-polarized light as undulatory, mosaic, mosaic-recrystallized or maskelynite. This sequence represents increasing deformation of original feldspar crystals. Undulatory crystals have wavy extinction, mosaic crystals have patchy extinction, and mosaic-recrystallized grains appear as if they were originally coarse-grained and have recrystallized to mosaics of small equant crystals. Maskelynite grains are isotropic, indicating transformation to glass. Based on feldspar deformation, the degrees of impact processing are NWA 856 > NWA 3117 > NWA 2727. The high deformation of NWA 856 is expected because this sample is from Mars, which is a large parent body and requires a powerful impact to accelerate a rock to escape velocity. In contrast, the parent body of NWA 3117 (Vesta) is smaller than that of NWA 2727 (the Moon), yet NWA 3117 appears more highly deformed than NWA 2727. One possible explanation is that NWA 2727 is from a relatively young part of the Moon, which has not been exposed to impacts as long as the surface of Vesta.