title: Impact-induced shock and the formation of natural quasicrystals in the early solar system.
abstract: The discovery of a natural quasicrystal, icosahedrite (Al63Cu24Fe13), accompanied by khatyrkite (CuAl2) and cupalite (CuAl) in the CV3 carbonaceous chondrite Khatyrka has posed a mystery as to what extraterrestrial processes led to the formation and preservation of these metal alloys. Here we present a range of evidence, including the discovery of high-pressure phases never observed before in a CV3 chondrite, indicating that an impact shock generated a heterogeneous distribution of pressures and temperatures in which some portions reached at least 5 GPa and 1,200 °C. The conditions were sufficient to melt Al-Cu-bearing minerals, which then rapidly solidified into icosahedrite and other Al-Cu metal phases. The meteorite also contains heretofore unobserved phases of iron-nickel and iron sulphide with substantial amounts of Al and Cu. The presence of these phases in Khatyrka provides further proof that the Al-Cu alloys are natural products of unusual processes that occurred in the early solar system.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Guyot Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA [2].
authors.forename: Lincoln S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Hollister
authors.affiliation: 1] Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, Via La Pira 4, I-50121 Florence, Italy [2].
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bindi
authors.affiliation: 1] Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA [2].
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: 1] Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA [2].
authors.forename: Gerald R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Poirier
authors.affiliation: Division of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Andronicos
authors.affiliation: Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia 20013, USA.
authors.forename: Glenn J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: MacPherson
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Princeton University, Jadwin Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
authors.forename: Chaney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry (IGEM), Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny per. 35, Moscow 119017, Russia.
authors.forename: Vadim V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Distler
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Eddy
authors.affiliation: Geoscience Technology, BHP Billiton, Houston, Texas 77056, USA.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kostin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry (IGEM), Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny per. 35, Moscow 119017, Russia.
authors.forename: Valery
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kryachko
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Steinhardt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry (IGEM), Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny per. 35, Moscow 119017, Russia.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yudovskaya
authors.affiliation: Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Eiler
authors.affiliation: Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
authors.forename: Yunbin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: Hitachi High Technologies America, Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878, USA.
authors.forename: Jamil J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Physics, Princeton University, Jadwin Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA [2] Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Steinhardt