Ferropericlase
Magnesium iron oxide that crystallises from shock melt in heavily shocked chondrites.
Key facts
- Formula
- (Mg,Fe)O
- Family
- High-pressure minerals
- Crystal system
- Cubic
What it is
Ferropericlase is a magnesium oxide with iron, also called magnesiowüstite when iron is abundant. It has the rock-salt structure. In Earth's lower mantle it is the second most common mineral after bridgmanite.
Where it is found
It crystallises with ringwoodite, majorite and bridgmanite in the shock-melt veins of strongly shocked L and H chondrites such as Suizhou and Tenham, where the melt crystallised under high pressure.
How it is recognised
It forms tiny equant grains in shock veins, identified by electron microscopy and microprobe analysis.
Did you know?
Diamonds from the deep mantle sometimes carry tiny inclusions of ferropericlase.
In meteorites it shows that a shock melt froze while the pressure was still high.