Coexisting wadsleyite and ringwoodite in the Alfianello L6 ordinary chondrite
Lidia Pittarello, Valeria De Santis, Laura Carone, Giovanni Pratesi, Mauro Gemmi, Paola Parlanti, Andreas Steiger-Thirsfeld, Alessandro Di Michele, Gabriele Giuli
MAPS, Version of Record online: 19 March 2026
“The occurrence of ringwoodite in shocked L6 ordinary chondrites has been frequently reported, mostly within shock veins. Only recently, ringwoodite has also been found in a fragment from the Alfianello meteorite, occurring as rim or core of olivine clasts in impact melt pockets, in lamellae crosscutting olivine grains in the host rock, and in fine-grained aggregates in association with wadsleyite. In all cases, ringwoodite shows a higher Fe/Mg ratio than the original olivine, whereas wadsleyite shows a lower Fe/Mg ratio than the original olivine. Detailed TEM studies of the occurrence of both high-pressure polymorphs allow the identification of the most likely formation process, explaining the coexistence of these polymorphs. The lack of any crystallographic relationships but the complementary Fe/Mg ratios supports formation of the assemblage through fractional crystallization from impact melt under high (shock) pressure conditions. However, the other occurrences of ringwoodite reported in the same sample, traditionally interpreted as resulting from solid-state transformation, emphasize the heterogeneity of distribution of shock effects and shock-induced processes recorded in a single meteorite.”
