Ultrafast growth of wadsleyite in shock-produced melts and its implications for early solar system impact processes

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Aug 18;106(33):13691-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0905751106. Epub 2009 Aug 10.

Abstract

We observed micrometer-sized grains of wadsleyite, a high-pressure phase of (Mg,Fe)(2)SiO(4,) in the recovery products of a shock experiment. We infer these grains crystallized from shock-generated melt over a time interval of <1 micros, the maximum time over which our experiment reached and sustained pressure sufficient to stabilize this phase. This rapid crystal growth rate (approximately 1 m/s) suggests that, contrary to the conclusions of previous studies of the occurrence of high-pressure phases in shock-melt veins in strongly shocked meteorites, the growth of high-pressure phases from the melt during shock events is not diffusion-controlled. Another process, such as microturbulent transport, must be active in the crystal growth process. This result implies that the times necessary to crystallize the high-pressure phases in shocked meteorites may correspond to shock pressure durations achieved on impacts between objects 1-5 m in diameter and not, as previously inferred, approximately 1-5 km in diameter. These results may also provide another pathway for syntheses, via shock recovery, of some high-value, high-pressure phases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Crystallization
  • Light
  • Metals / chemistry*
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / methods
  • Pressure
  • Scattering, Radiation
  • Silicates / chemistry*
  • Silicon / chemistry*
  • Software
  • Solar System*
  • Spectrophotometry, Infrared / methods
  • Synchrotrons
  • Temperature
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Metals
  • Silicates
  • Silicon