Discovery of Meteoritic Eringaite, Ca_3(Sc,Y,Ti)_2Si_3O_(12), the First Solar Garnet?

Abstract

During a nano-mineralogy investigation of the Vigarano CV3 meteorite, eringaite Ca_3(Sc,Y,Ti)_2Si_3O_(12) was identified in a cluster of ultra-refractory inclusion fragments within a shattered amoeboid olivine aggregate in VCM3. Eringaite is a newly-discovered garnet-group mineral in metasomatic rodingite-like rocks from the Wiluy River, Sakha-Yakutia Republic, Russia [I]. Reported here is the second natural occurrence of eringaite, as a new ultra-refractory mineral in a primitive meteorite, among the earliest solids formed in the solar nebula. Field-emission SEM, electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) and electron microprobe were used to characterize its composition and structure and associated phases.

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