GLASS-BEARING INCLUSIONS IN NAKHLA(SNC METEORITE) AUGITE: HETEROGENEOUSLY TRAPPED PHASES

Abstract

Nakhla augite and olivine grains commonly contain glass-bearing inclusions. In contrast to olivines, augites host only one type of multiphase inclusions which consists of euhedral to subhedral augite, Ti-magnetite and pigeonite plus silica-rich glass and a bubble. No fractures surround these inclusions, making it likely that they are of a pristine composition. Heating experiments with a final temperature of 1150 °C were done for the first time with Nakhla augite inclusions. During heating the glass melted and crystals inside the inclusions were dissolved in the melt whereby its chemical composition changed. The quenched glass is poorer in SiO2 and Al2O3 and richer in CaO, FeO and MgO compared to unheated inclusion glass. Our in situ analyses allowed us to estimate the initial composition of a liquid co-existing with Nakhla augite at 1150 °C and 1 atm pressure. Several features of Nakhla, such as the high Fe/Mg ratio of the augite, which is out of equilibrium with the glass, the highly variable alkali content and the Na/K ratio of the glasses are incompatible with the standard model that states that SNC meteorites are all igneous rocks formed from basaltic magmas. Our results on re-melted glasses suggest a more complex and possibly non-magmatic genesis of Nakhla. Both types of glass-bearing inclusions (those hosted by augite or olivine) could represent heterogeneously trapped mineral + glass inclusions. Those hosted by augites mimic at least in part parental melt inclusions. However, the quenched glass is out of equilibrium with the host with respect to the Fe/Mg ratio and has too much compositional variation to be representative of a parental melt.