Geochemical & Spectroscopic Analyses of Meteorite NWA 12547

Meteorites serve as a record of the original components that formed planetesimals and planets. It is believed that planets in our solar system are formed of materials analogous to meteorites. Through geochemical analyses of meteorites, we can develop our understanding of the early solar system environment, and by proxy, the evolution of terrestrial planets. NWA 12547 is an L3 ordinary chondrite melt breccia meteorite found in Morocco in 2019. Meteorites—breccias especially—can preserve the accretionary and evolutionary history of early solar system bodies and planetesimals. Since NWA 12547 should show evidence of the accretion and impact history on the parent body, we can explore planetesimal evolution. Our sample, a thick section of the meteorite mounted in a 1” round of epoxy, appeared to have two texturally distinct lithologies that we chemically investigated to characterize the formation and evolution of this meteorite and its parent body. We first collected ten X-ray element maps using electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) to explore the large-scale mineral and textural diversity in the sample. Linearly combining these element maps allowed us to assign each pixel a mineral phase, enabling us to quantify mineral abundances across the sample. We then performed EDS spot analyses using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to constrain variations in mineral compositions. Finally, we used a micro-Fourier Transform Infrared (micro-FTIR) spectrometer to acquire infrared maps of the sample, which we directly compared to the EMPA map. Here we compare the mineral abundances and compositions across the two apparent sample lithologies and discuss their chemical relationship, the resulting implications for the spatial origin of the two lithologies, and their subsequent evolutionary history.