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Investigations of the meteoritic mineral (Fe,Ni) 3 P
Author(s) -
Geist V.,
Wagner G.,
Nolze G.,
Moretzki O.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
crystal research and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.377
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1521-4079
pISSN - 0232-1300
DOI - 10.1002/crat.200410307
Subject(s) - meteorite , iron meteorite , kamacite , phosphide , mineralogy , crystallography , metal , mineral , chemical composition , chemistry , crystal structure , materials science , metallurgy , analytical chemistry (journal) , chondrite , astrobiology , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography
A survey is presented on some characteristic features of meteoritic (Fe,Ni) 3 P which is an abundant and important minor phase of most iron meteorites. This mineral (named schreibersite/rhabdite) plays a decisive role during the formation of the so‐called Widmanstätten pattern. Different transmission as well as scanning electron microscopic techniques have been applied to get more precise information about the real structure of the phosphide crystals, their chemical composition and the metal distribution across the phoshide/ kamacite interface. X‐ray crystal structure determinations have been performed for selected (Fe,Ni) 3 P ‐ cystals from various iron meteorites (Toluca, North Chile, Watson, Orange River, Morasko, Agpalilik, Odessa, Canyon Diablo). These experiments revealed a metal ordering, i.e. for the three non‐equivalent metal positions a different substitution of Fe by Ni has been found. The perfection of the brittle (Fe,Ni) 3 P samples differs appreciably and seems to be dependent on the thermal history of each individual meteorite. Moreover, inside Ni‐rich rhabdite crystals small monocrystalline inclusions of CrN (carlsbergite) have been detected. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)