Abstract-Secondary mineral assemblages in the nakhlite meteorites, Lafayette, Governador Valadares (GV), Nakhla, Yamato (Y)-000593 ⁄ Y-000749 have been studied using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and electron probe micro analysis. The different nakhlites have distinctive secondary assemblages in their olivine grains and mesostases, showing compositional fractionation correlated with their relative depths below the Martian surface. Fracture-filled veins in Lafayette at the bottom of the pile consist of a siderite-phyllosilicate-Fe oxide-hydrated silicate gel assemblage. Corresponding veins in Nakhla and GV further up the pile are predominantly a siderite-gel assemblage, with additional evaporites including gypsum. Y-000593 ⁄ Y-000749 veins are dominated by gel. The gel's Mg ⁄ (Mg + Fe) ratio decreases from Lafayette (0.37) to GV (0.32), Nakhla (0.24), and Y-000593 (0.15). We suggest that hydrothermal fluid flowed up this depth profile, initiated by melting of buried H 2 O-CO 2 ice. Our results show a complex mix of Fe-rich phyllosilicate within the veins and mesostasis of Lafayette with d-spacings of 0.7-1.1 nm suggesting a mixture of smectite and serpentine. The phyllosilicate formed at close to neutral pH, £150°C. We also suggest that water rock ratios (W ⁄ R) of 1-10 occurred in Lafayette with smaller values for the other nakhlites. This is reflected in the volume of alteration minerals: 10% of olivine in Lafayette to 3% in Nakhla. Textural evidence of rapid cooling, together with the W ⁄ R and likely fluid velocities, suggest that the secondary assemblages formed quickly, e.g., within months. A model is proposed in which the secondary assemblages formed in an impact-induced hydrothermal system terminated by precipitation of the gel and evaporation of soluble salts.

No abstract

Interstellar dust (ISD) from the local interstellar medium (LISM) streams into the solar system from approximately the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. Prior to the return of the NASA Stardust spacecraft (1) no recognizable samples of this interstellar dust were available for laboratory study. Thus, our understanding of the properties of contemporary ISD has been derived primarily from astronomical observations of the ISM, including optical properties of the ISD and remote spectroscopy of the gas composition (2-4), and from in situ measurements by the dust analyzers on the Cassini, Ulysses and Galileo spacecraft (5-7). The canonical picture of ISD is that it is dominated by ~0.2 µm diameter (8) amorphous silicate grains, with or without carbonaceous mantles. However, the inferred properties of the particles, including size distribution, density and composition are heavily model dependent.

Magnetite produced by magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) provides stable paleomagnetic signals because it occurs as natural single‐domain magnetic nanocrystals. MTB can also provide useful paleoenvironmental information because their crystal morphologies are associated with particular bacterial groups and the environments in which they live. However, identification of the fossil remains of MTB (i.e., magnetofossils) from ancient sediments or rocks is challenging because of their generally small sizes and because the growth, morphology, and chain assembly of magnetite within MTB are not well understood. Nanoscale characterization is, therefore, needed to understand magnetite biomineralization and to develop magnetofossils as biogeochemical proxies for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Using advanced transmission electron microscopy, we investigated magnetite growth and chain arrangements within magnetotactic Deltaproteobacteria strain WYHR‐1, which reveals how the magnetite grows to form elongated, bullet‐shaped nanocrystals. Three crystal growth stages are recognized: (i) initial isotropic growth to produce nearly round ~20 nm particles, (ii) subsequent anisotropic growth along the [001] crystallographic direction to ~75 nm lengths and ~30–40 nm widths, and (iii) unidirectional growth along the [001] direction to ~180 nm lengths, with some growing to ~280 nm. Crystal growth and habit differ from that of magnetite produced by other known MTB strains, which indicates species‐specific biomineralization. These findings suggest that magnetite biomineralization might be much more diverse among MTB than previously thought. When characterized adequately at species level, magnetofossil crystallography, and apomorphic features are, therefore, likely to become useful proxies for ancient MTB taxonomic groups or species and for interpreting the environments in which they lived.