Sulfur in Achondritic Meteorites

Abstract

Total sulfur abundances have been measured for 48 achondrites. For twenty eucrites they ranged from 370 to 3700 micrograms S/g with a median sulfur content of 1180 micrograms S/g. Sulfur abundances for howardites ranged from 1490 to 3240 micrograms S /g and had a median sulfur concentration of 2340 micrograms S/g. Diogenites' sulfur abundances ranged from 130 to 3170 micrograms S/g, with a median value of 1280 micrograms S/g. Four shergottites had a median sulfur content of 1940 micrograms S/g and ranged from 740 to 2540 micrograms S/g. Enstatite achondrites contained the greatest sulfur abundances of any achondrite group. They ranged from 2450 to 8580 micrograms S/g and had a median sulfur content of 6020 micrograms S/g and had a median sulfur content of 6020 micrograms S/g. A single Chassignite had a sulfur concentration of 360 micrograms S/g. The wide variations in sulfur concentrations for the achondrites reflect the small scale heterogeneous nature of these unique extraterrestrial materials due in large part to discrete sulfide mineral grains.

New bulk sulfur measurements of Martian meteorites and modeling the fate of sulfur during melting and crystallization – Implications for sulfur transfer from Martian mantle to crust–atmosphere system

“…Melt fraction refers to the mass fraction of intercumulus liquid, which is assumed to be the difference between 1 and cumulate fraction. In order to estimate the plausible fraction of cumulate minerals in Martian meteorites, we first approximate mass fraction of each mineral using the mineral modes (pyroxene, Gibson et al (1985): 300, 330, 360, 400 ppm; Banin et al (1992), Dreibus et al (1982): 118 ppm. The ± uncertainties in Lodders (1998) are calculated with respect to the mean value obtained from various studies.…”

“…Sulfur is thought to be a dominant volatile element on Mars (Gaillard et al, 2012;Gibson et al, 1985;King and McLennan, 2010;Stewart et al, 2007). Understanding S distribution among Martian mantle, crust and the atmosphere as well as the fate of sulfur in various magmatic processes is important for constraining the differentiation history of Mars.…”

The formation of eucrites: Constraints from metal‐silicate partition coefficients

“…Molybdenum would be therefore preferentially extracted into sulfur-bearing phases at any time of the fractional crystallization sequence. Sulfur abundances in eucrites range from about 400 to 9700 ppm (e.g., Gibson and Moore 1983;Palme et al 1983;Hartmetz et al 1989) with the accessory mineral troilite as the dominant sulfur-bearing phase. No correlation between the eucritic compositional types and the sulfur abundances seems to exist (Gibson and Moore 1983).…”

“…Sulfur abundances in eucrites range from about 400 to 9700 ppm (e.g., Gibson and Moore 1983;Palme et al 1983;Hartmetz et al 1989) with the accessory mineral troilite as the dominant sulfur-bearing phase. No correlation between the eucritic compositional types and the sulfur abundances seems to exist (Gibson and Moore 1983). The Mo concentration, listed in Table 6, is taken from Juvinas (Newsom and Palme 1984).…”

“…The Mo concentration, listed in Table 6, is taken from Juvinas (Newsom and Palme 1984). Sulfur abundances in Juvinas range from 1140 ± 30 to 2550 ± 70 ppm (Gibson and Moore 1983). These sulfur abundances are close to or even higher than sulfur solubility limits in silicate liquids (Holzheid and Grove 2002;Mavrogenes and O'Neill 1999).…”