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A New Source of Basaltic Meteorites Inferred from Northwest Africa 011
Akira Yamaguchi,12*Robert N. Clayton,3Toshiko K. Mayeda,3Mitsuru Ebihara,4Yasuji Oura,4Yayoi N. Miura,5Hiroshi Haramura,1Keiji Misawa,12Hideyasu Kojima,12Keisuke Nagao6
Eucrites are a class of basaltic meteorites that share common
mineralogical, isotopic, and chemical properties and are thoughtto
have been derived from the same parent body, possibly asteroid4 Vesta.
The texture, mineralogy, and noble gas data of the recentlyrecovered
meteorite, Northwest Africa (NWA) 011, are similar tothose of basaltic
eucrites. However, the oxygen isotopic compositionof NWA011 is
different from that of other eucrites, indicatingthat NWA011 may be
derived from a different parent body. The presenceof basaltic
meteorites with variable oxygen isotopic compositionsuggests the
occurrence of multiple basaltic meteorite parentbodies, perhaps
similar to 4 Vesta, in the early solar system.
1 Antarctic Meteorite Research Center, National
Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo 173-8515, Japan.
2 The Graduate University for Advanced Studies,
Tokyo 173-8515, Japan.
3 Enrico Fermi Institute,
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
4 Department of Chemistry, Tokyo Metropolitan
University, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan.
5 Earthquake Research Institute, University of
Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.
6 Laboratory for
Earthquake Chemistry, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
yamaguch{at}nipr.ac.jp
