A history of mild shocks experienced by the regolith particles on hydrated asteroid RyuguOPEN ACCESS 

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Naotaka Tomioka, Akira Yamaguchi, Motoo Ito, Masayuki Uesugi, Naoya Imae, Naoki Shirai, Takuji Ohigashi, Makoto Kimura, Ming-Chang Liu, Richard C. Greenwood, Kentaro Uesugi, Aiko Nakato, Kasumi Yogata, Hayato Yuzawa, Yu Kodama, Kaori Hirahara, Ikuya Sakurai, Ikuo Okada, Yuzuru Karouji, Keishi Okazaki, Kosuke Kurosawa, Takaaki Noguchi, Akira Miyake, Masaaki Miyahara, Yusuke Seto, Toru Matsumoto, Yohei Igami, Satoru Nakazawa, Tatsuaki Okada, Takanao Saiki, Satoshi Tanaka, Fuyuto Terui, Makoto Yoshikawa, Akiko Miyazaki, Masahiro Nishimura, Toru Yada, Masanao Abe, Tomohiro Usui, Sei-ichiro Watanabe & Yuichi Tsuda

Nature Astronomy
Published: 20 April 2023

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“Micrometeorites, a possible major source of Earth’s water, are thought to form from explosive dispersal of hydrated chondritic materials during impact events on their parental asteroids. However, this provenance and formation mechanism have yet to be directly confirmed using asteroid returned samples. Here, we report evidence of mild shock metamorphism in the surface particles of asteroid Ryugu based on electron microscopy. All particles are dominated by phyllosilicates but lack dehydration textures, which are indicative of shock-heating temperatures below ~500 °C. Microfault-like textures associated with extensively shock-deformed framboidal magnetites and a high-pressure polymorph of Fe–Cr–sulfide have been identified. These findings indicate that the average peak pressure was ~2 GPa. The vast majority of ejecta formed during impact on Ryugu-like asteroids would be hydrated materials, larger than a millimetre, originating far from the impact point. These characteristics are inconsistent with current micrometeorite production models, and consequently, a new formation mechanism is required.”

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