Framboidal iron oxide: Chondrite-like material from the black mat, Murray Springs, Arizona

Mostafa Fayek; Lawrence M. Anovitz; Lawrence F. Allard; Sharon Hull

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.11.033

Framboidal iron oxide: Chondrite-like material from the black mat, Murray Springs, Arizona

Mostafa Fayek, Lawrence M. Anovitz, Lawrence F. Allard, Sharon Hull

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

At the end of the Pleistocene a Younger Dryas "black mat" was deposited on top of the Pleistocene sediments in many parts of North America. A study of the magnetic fraction (~. 10,900±50. B.P.) from the basal section of the black mat at Murray Springs, AZ revealed the presence of amorphous iron oxide framboids in a glassy iron-silica matrix. These framboids are very similar in appearance and chemistry to those reported from several types of carbonaceous chondrites. The glass contains iron, silicon, oxygen, vanadium and minor titanium, while the framboidal particles contain calcium as well. The major element chemistry of both the spherules and the glass matrix are consistent with the chemistry of material associated with meteorite impact sites and meteorites. Electron microscopy confirms that the glassy material is indeed amorphous, and also shows that what appear to be individual oxide particles are amorphous as well. The latter appears consistent with their overall morphology that, while euhedral, typically shows significant fracture. Based on these data, we argue that these particles are the product of a hypervelocity impact.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	251-258
Number of pages	8
Journal	Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume	319-320
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.11.033
State	Published - Feb 15 2012

Funding

Support for this research was provided by a NSERC-discovery , CRC , and CFI grants to Fayek. Research was also sponsored by the Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy . We thank Laura Bergen, Brandi Shabaga, Panseok Yang and Sergio Mejia at UM, and Larry Walker and Emily Simonds at ORNL for their help in obtaining the images and chemical analyses. We would also like to thank Dr. C. Vance Haynes, who collected the material we looked at in this study, and initiated our interest in this work.

Funders	Funder number
NSERC-discovery
Office of Basic Energy Sciences
U.S. Department of Energy
CRC Health Group
Cummings Foundation
Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division

Keywords

Black-mat
Chondrite
Clovis
Framboids
Meteorite
Younger-Dryas

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10.1016/j.epsl.2011.11.033

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title = "Framboidal iron oxide: Chondrite-like material from the black mat, Murray Springs, Arizona",

abstract = "At the end of the Pleistocene a Younger Dryas {"}black mat{"} was deposited on top of the Pleistocene sediments in many parts of North America. A study of the magnetic fraction (~. 10,900±50. B.P.) from the basal section of the black mat at Murray Springs, AZ revealed the presence of amorphous iron oxide framboids in a glassy iron-silica matrix. These framboids are very similar in appearance and chemistry to those reported from several types of carbonaceous chondrites. The glass contains iron, silicon, oxygen, vanadium and minor titanium, while the framboidal particles contain calcium as well. The major element chemistry of both the spherules and the glass matrix are consistent with the chemistry of material associated with meteorite impact sites and meteorites. Electron microscopy confirms that the glassy material is indeed amorphous, and also shows that what appear to be individual oxide particles are amorphous as well. The latter appears consistent with their overall morphology that, while euhedral, typically shows significant fracture. Based on these data, we argue that these particles are the product of a hypervelocity impact.",

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AU - Fayek, Mostafa

AU - Anovitz, Lawrence M.

AU - Allard, Lawrence F.

AU - Hull, Sharon

PY - 2012/2/15

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N2 - At the end of the Pleistocene a Younger Dryas "black mat" was deposited on top of the Pleistocene sediments in many parts of North America. A study of the magnetic fraction (~. 10,900±50. B.P.) from the basal section of the black mat at Murray Springs, AZ revealed the presence of amorphous iron oxide framboids in a glassy iron-silica matrix. These framboids are very similar in appearance and chemistry to those reported from several types of carbonaceous chondrites. The glass contains iron, silicon, oxygen, vanadium and minor titanium, while the framboidal particles contain calcium as well. The major element chemistry of both the spherules and the glass matrix are consistent with the chemistry of material associated with meteorite impact sites and meteorites. Electron microscopy confirms that the glassy material is indeed amorphous, and also shows that what appear to be individual oxide particles are amorphous as well. The latter appears consistent with their overall morphology that, while euhedral, typically shows significant fracture. Based on these data, we argue that these particles are the product of a hypervelocity impact.

AB - At the end of the Pleistocene a Younger Dryas "black mat" was deposited on top of the Pleistocene sediments in many parts of North America. A study of the magnetic fraction (~. 10,900±50. B.P.) from the basal section of the black mat at Murray Springs, AZ revealed the presence of amorphous iron oxide framboids in a glassy iron-silica matrix. These framboids are very similar in appearance and chemistry to those reported from several types of carbonaceous chondrites. The glass contains iron, silicon, oxygen, vanadium and minor titanium, while the framboidal particles contain calcium as well. The major element chemistry of both the spherules and the glass matrix are consistent with the chemistry of material associated with meteorite impact sites and meteorites. Electron microscopy confirms that the glassy material is indeed amorphous, and also shows that what appear to be individual oxide particles are amorphous as well. The latter appears consistent with their overall morphology that, while euhedral, typically shows significant fracture. Based on these data, we argue that these particles are the product of a hypervelocity impact.

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KW - Clovis

KW - Framboids

KW - Meteorite

KW - Younger-Dryas

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JO - Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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ER -

Framboidal iron oxide: Chondrite-like material from the black mat, Murray Springs, Arizona

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