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

Abstract

We observed micrometer-sized grains of wadsleyite, a high-pressure phase of (Mg,Fe)_2SiO_4, in the recovery products of a shock experiment. We infer these grains crystallized from shock-generated melt over a time interval of <1 μs, the maximum time over which our experiment reached and sustained pressure sufficient to stabilize this phase. This rapid crystal growth rate (≈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, ≈1–5 km in diameter. These results may also provide another pathway for syntheses, via shock recovery, of some high-value, high-pressure phases.

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