Whole-rock 26Al-26Mg systematics of amoeboid olivine aggregates from the oxidized CV3 carbonaceous chondrite Allende.

- We report on mineralogy, petrography, and whole-rock 26Al-26Mg systematics of eight amoeboid olivine aggregates (AOAs) from the oxidized CV chondrite Allende. The AOAs consist of forsteritic olivine, opaque nodules, and variable amounts of Ca,Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) of different types, and show evidence for alteration to varying degrees. Melilite and anorthite are replaced by nepheline, sodalite, and grossular; spinel is enriched in FeO; opaque nodules are replaced by Fe,Ni-sulfides, ferroan olivine and Ca,Fe-rich pyroxenes; forsteritic olivine is enriched in FeO and often overgrown by ferroan olivine. The AOAs are surrounded by fine-grained, matrix-like rims composed mainly of ferroan olivine and by a discontinuous layer of Ca,Fe-rich silicates. These observations indicate that AOAs experienced in situ elemental open-system iron-alkali-halogen metasomatic alteration during which Fe, Na, Cl, and Si were introduced, whereas Ca was removed from AOAs and used to form the Ca,Fe-rich silicate rims around AOAs. The whole-rock 26Al-26Mg systematics of the Allende AOAs plot above the isochron of the whole-rock Allende CAIs with a slope of (5.23 ± 0.13) × 10−5 reported by . In contrast, whole-rock 26Al-26Mg isotope systematics of CAIs and AOAs from the reduced CV chondrite Efremovka define a single isochron with a slope of (5.25± 0.01) × 10−5 (). We infer that the excesses in 26Mg* present in Allende AOAs are due to their late-stage open-system metasomatic alteration. Thus, the 26Al-26Mg isotope systematics of Allende CAIs and AOAs are disturbed by parent body alteration processes, and may not be suitable for high-precision chronology of the early solar system events and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]