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2014•Lunar and Planetary Science ConferenceRequires access

Vesta Evolution from Surface Mineralogy: Mafic and Ultramafic Mineral Distribution

Maria Cristina De Sanctis, E. Ammannito, E. Palomba, A. Longobardo, David W. Mittlefehldt, Harry Y. McSWEEN Jr, S. Marchi, M. T. Capria, F. Capaccioni, A. Frigeri, Carle M. Pieters, Ottaviano Ruesch, F. Tosi, Francesca Zambon, H. Hiesinger, G. Magni, L. A. McFadden, Carol A. Raymond, C.T. Russell, Jessica M. Sunshine

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Abstract

Vesta is the only intact, differentiated, rocky protoplanet and it is the parent body of HED meterorites. Howardite, eucrite and diogenite (HED) meteorites represent regolith, basaltic-crust, lower-crust and possibly ultramafic-mantle samples of asteroid Vesta. Only a few of these meteorites, the orthopyroxene-rich diogenites, contain olivine, a mineral that is a major component of the mantles of differentiated bodies, including Vesta. The HED parent body experienced complex igneous processes that are not yet fully understood and olivine and diogenite distribution is a key measurement to understand Vesta evolution. Here we report on the distribution of olivine and its constraints on vestan evolution models.

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What this paper is about

Vesta is the only intact, differentiated, rocky protoplanet and it is the parent body of HED meterorites. Howardite, eucrite and diogenite (HED) meteorites represent regolith, basaltic-crust, lower-crust and possibly ultramafic-mantle samples of asteroid Vesta. Only a few of these meteorites, the orthopyroxene-rich diogenites, contain olivine, a mineral that is a major component of the mantles of differentiated bodies, including Vesta. The HED parent body experienced complex igneous processes that are not yet fully understood and olivine and diogenite distribution is a key measurement to understand Vesta evolution. Here we report on the distribution of olivine and its constraints on vestan evolution models.

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Available abstract

Vesta is the only intact, differentiated, rocky protoplanet and it is the parent body of HED meterorites. Howardite, eucrite and diogenite (HED) meteorites represent regolith, basaltic-crust, lower-crust and possibly ultramafic-mantle samples of asteroid Vesta. Only a few of these meteorites, the orthopyroxene-rich diogenites, contain olivine, a mineral that is a major component of the mantles of differentiated bodies, including Vesta. The HED parent body experienced complex igneous processes that are not yet fully understood and olivine and diogenite distribution is a key measurement to understand Vesta evolution. Here we report on the distribution of olivine and its constraints on vestan evolution models.

Key concepts: Ultramafic rock, Meteorite, Olivine, Geology, Mafic, Regolith, Geochemistry, Astrobiology

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