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Pyroxenes from planetary basalts: Characterization of "other" than quadrilateral components
Author(s) -
Papike J. J.,
White C.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl006i012p00913
Subject(s) - pyroxene , basalt , geology , meteorite , geochemistry , olivine , pigeonite , petrogenesis , archean , silicate , astrobiology , plagioclase , physics , paleontology , augite , astronomy , quartz
As part of a NASA sponsored program entitled "Basaltic Volcanism on the Terrestrial Planets" we have been involved in the synthesis of the silicate mineralogy of a planetary suite which includes Archean, Columbia Plateau, deep sea, basaltic meteorites, Hawaiian, island arc, Keweenawan, lunar highlands, lunar mare and Rio Grande basalts. We treated 1263 pyroxene microprobe analyses in our statistical and graphical analysis. The most important "Others" substitutional couple for all of the planetary suites combined is VI Ti 4+ ‐ IV Al 2 3+ . It enters pyroxenes mainly as the component CaTiAl 2 O 6 . A very important component in pyroxenes from terrestrial basalts is CaFe 3+ SiAlO 6 . This emphasizes the importance of fO 2 in pyroxene‐liquid elemental partitioning. At the relative high oxygen fugacities of terrestrial petrogenesis, iron enters the pyroxene structure both as Fe 3+ and Fe 2+ whereas in lunar and most basaltic meteorite pyroxenes, iron is Fe 2+ only. Inspection of this large number of high quality pyroxene analyses demonstrates that these phases carry a signature of the planetary body in which they evolved.