中国科学院地球化学研究所机构知识库

Records of space weathering are important for understanding the formation and evolution of surface regolith on airless celestial bodies. Current understanding of space weathering processes on asteroids including asteroid-4 Vesta, the source of the howardite– eucrite–diogenite (HED) meteorites, lags behind what is known for the Moon. In this study, we studied agglutinates, a vesicular glass-coating lithic clast, and a fine-grained sulfide replacement texture in the polymict breccia Northwest Africa (NWA) 1109 with electron microscopy. In agglutinates, nanophase grains of FeNi and FeS were observed, whereas npFe0 was absent. We suggested that the agglutinates in NWA 1109 formed from finegrained surface materials of Vesta during meteorite/micrometeorite bombardment. The finegrained sulfide replacement texture (troilite + hedenbergite + silica) should be a result of reaction between S-rich vapors and pyroxferroite. The unique Fe/Mn values of relict pyroxferroite indicate a different source from normal HED pyroxenes, arguing that the reaction took place on or near the surface of Vesta. The fine-grained sulfide replacement texture could be a product of nontypical space weathering on airless celestial bodies. We should pay attention to this texture in future returned samples by asteroid exploration missions.