In order to be able to explain the formation of pallasites by asteroid collisions, we imitated the pressure and temperature conditions prevailing during these processes. “With these instruments we can simulate very realistically the processes that led to the formation of meteorites, asteroids, or the planets.
Hans Keppler from BGI at Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (Research Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz) at the Technical University of Munich. This is currently being set up with the assistance of Prof. The new findings are the result of experiments on two extremely powerful devices: the MAVO high-pressure press at the Bavarian Research Institute of Experimental Geochemistry & Geophysics, and the identical SAPHiR high-pressure press. Audrey Bouvier, Professor of Experimental Planetology at the University of Bayreuth. To this end, we wish to continue our structural and chemical investigations of pallasite meteorites at BGI – especially in the geochemical laboratories soon to be established here”, says Prof. This shows in an exemplary way how these meteorites can provide us revealing and unexpected insights into the early history of our solar system. “With our research work, we were able for the first time to reproduce in the laboratory all of the textures observed in pallasites. The pallasites that have been found and studied on Earth so far show a very large variety of textures. In research, the spatial arrangement of different materials in a rock and the resulting structures make up what is called texture. This genesis explains the unusual structures found in pallasites: They contain greenish brown olivine crystals surrounded by nickel and iron metal. Billions of years later, quantities of this material mixture were blasted out of the surface of the asteroid by the force of another impact, and catapulted into space. In these collisions, iron from the smaller asteroid mixed with the olivine-rich material in the mantle of the larger asteroid. The new findings are presented in the journal “Earth and Planetary Science Letters”.Īs the researchers have now discovered, pallasites arose from asteroid collisions that occurred approximately 4.5 billion years ago. They have been working closely with scientists from the Technical University of Munich and the Royal Holloway University of London. Researchers at the Bavarian Research Institute of Experimental Geochemistry & Geophysics (BGI) of the University of Bayreuth have now succeeded in simulating the formation of all known types of pallasites by means of high-pressure experiments, and in placing them in the history of the solar system. However, to date, their origins have been hotly disputed. Pallasites are stony-iron meteorites, and are known for their unusual, visually attractive structures.
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