Hutcheonite, Ca3Ti2(SiAl2)O12, a new garnet mineral from the Allende meteorite: An alteration phase in a Ca-Al-rich inclusion

Hutcheonite (IMA 2013-029), Ca3Ti2(SiAl2)O-12, is a new garnet mineral that occurs with monticellite, grossular, and wadalite in secondary alteration areas along sonic cracks between primary melilite, spinet, and Ti.Al-diopside in a Type B I Fractionation and Unidentified Nuclear effects (FUN) Ca-Al-rich inclusion (CAI) Egg-3 from the Allende CV (Vigarano type) carbonaceous chondrite. The mean chemical composition of type hutcheonite by electron probe microanalysis is (wt%) CaO 34.6, TiO2 25.3, SiO2 20.9, Al2O3 15.7. MgO 2.1, FeO 0.7, V2O3 0.5, total 99.8, giving rise to an empirical formula of Ca-2.99(Ti1.534+Mg0.25Al0.17F0.052+V0.033+)(Si1.68Al1.32)O-12. The end-member formula is Ca3Ti2(SiAl2)O-12. g/cm(3). Hutcheonite has the la (3) over bard garnet structure with a = 11.843 angstrom. V = 1661.06 angstrom(3), and Z = 8, as revealed by electron backscatter diffraction. The calculated density using the measured composition is 3.86 Hutcheonite is a new secondary phase in Allende, apparently formed by iron-alkali-halogen metasomatic alteration of the primary CAI phases like melilite, perovskite, and Ti,Al-diopside on the CV chondrite parent asteroid. Formation of the secondary Ti-rich minerals like hutcheonite during the metasomatic alteration of the Allende CAIs suggests some mobility of Ti during the alteration. The mineral name is in honor of Ian D. Hutcheon, a cosmochemist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California. U.S.A.