Abstract
EUCRITE meteorites1 are especially important in studies of the early Solar System because they are the simplest and most ancient products of a process that was widespread in the inner Solar System2,3: basaltic volcanism. They are also the meteorites for which there is least doubt of an asteroidal origin4,5. After volcanism the eucrites experienced a period of metamorphism6, either inside the asteroid as it cooled from igneous temperatures7 or on the surface of the asteroid as a result of impact heating8. Induced thermoluminescence studies provide a new and quantitative means of determining relative metamorphic intensities for these meteorites. Using this technique, we show that the eucrites constitute a continuous metamorphic series and not, as commonly assumed, two groups of metamorphosed and non-metamorphosed meteorites9. These studies are the first application of the induced thermoluminescence technique to igneous rocks and we suggest that the method may well have application to other basalts.
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Batchelor, J., Sears, D. Metamorphism of eucrite meteorites studied quantitatively using induced thermoluminescence. Nature 349, 516–518 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/349516a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/349516a0
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