[meteorite-list] "Iron" Breccias

From: Mark Fox <unclefireballmtf_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:55:56 2004
Message-ID: <20020131184658.81448.qmail_at_web14907.mail.yahoo.com>

January 31, 2002

Greetings Meteorite Enthusiasts!

Here is a question to spur the noodle.

Has anyone discovered or identified an iron breccia
meteorite yet, in which two different irons unite in
a cosmic collision? I have not heard of such a
meteorite, although I am quite aware of mesosiderites
--- which describe the event of what occurs when an
iron asteroid (or at least one predominantly iron)
crashes into a stony parent body or vice versa.

Such an iron breccia, I can imagine, would consist of
fewer iron-nickel clasts (of foreign parent body
origin), due to the malleability of the metallic
elements involved, than stony clasts in stony
breccias. Also, when etched, the borders between
the impactor and the host meteorite, even if it they
are of the same class, would be noticed since the
instant heat caused by the shock would not only bond
the two, but mix the metals adjacent to the borders.
Thus, in those areas the metals may form a slightly
different alloy or disrupt the pattern if both
individual asteroids are octahedritic in origin.
This is all quick speculation, mind you.
  
Enjoy, and long strewn fields!

Mark Fox
Newaygo, MI USA

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Received on Thu 31 Jan 2002 01:46:58 PM PST