One of two main classes of stony-iron meteoriteMeteorite composed of roughly equal amounts by weight of silicate minerals and Ni-Fe metal. The stony-irons consist of two groups: mesosiderites and pallasites. However, there is gradual shading into metal-rich stony meteorites such as the lodranites (once considered stony-irons) and silicate-rich iron meteorites. Stony-iron meteorites are less abundant than their, the other being mesosiderites. Pallasites are igneous in nature and characterized by crystals of olivineGroup of silicate minerals, (Mg,Fe)2SiO4, with the compositional endpoints of forsterite (Mg2SiO4) and fayalite (Fe2SiO4). Olivine is commonly found in all chondrites within both the matrix and chondrules, achondrites including most primitive achondrites and some evolved achondrites, in pallasites as large yellow-green crystals (brown when terrestrialized), in the silicate portion Click on Term to Read More, sometimes peridot (green gem quality clear olivine crystals), embedded in a matrixFine grained primary and silicate-rich material in chondrites that surrounds chondrules, refractory inclusions (like CAIs), breccia clasts and other constituents. Click on Term to Read More of Fe-Ni metalElement that readily forms cations and has metallic bonds; sometimes said to be similar to a cation in a cloud of electrons. The metals are one of the three groups of elements as distinguished by their ionization and bonding properties, along with the metalloids and nonmetals. A diagonal line drawn Click on Term to Read More. The type specimen, weighing 680 kg, was found in the mountains near Krasnojarsk, Siberia, and first documented in 1772 by the German naturalist Peter Pallas after whom pallasites are named. However, it was some decades later before people recognized the extraterrestrial nature of what became known as the Pallas iron.
Pallasites are believed to have come from the coreIn the context of planetary formation, the core is the central region of a large differentiated asteroid, planet or moon and made up of denser materials than the surrounding mantle and crust. For example, the cores of the Earth, the terrestrial planets and differentiated asteroids are rich in metallic iron-nickel. Click on Term to Read More/mantle boundary of differentiated asteroids that were broken apart by impact. However, a new theory proposes that a non-destructive impact between two small planets at the time of formation of the Solar SystemThe Sun and set of objects orbiting around it including planets and their moons and rings, asteroids, comets, and meteoroids. (more than 4.5 billions years ago) could have formed pallasites. The collision involves two small terrestrial planetesimalsHypothetical solid celestial body that accumulated during the last stages of accretion. These bodies, from ~1-100 km in size, formed in the early solar system by accretion of dust (rock) and ice (if present) in the central plane of the solar nebula. Most planetesimals accreted to planets, but many – Click on Term to Read More (i.e., planets with similar composition to a primitive Earth but with a radius < 1,000 km) in which the the metallic iron-nickel core of the impactor (smaller planetesimal) is injected into the rocky part of the larger body that is made mostly of olivine. Pallasites have chemical, elemental, and isotopic features that often link them to specific chemical groups of iron meteorites, suggesting that they come from the same parent bodies as these irons1.
Some or all content above used with permission from J. H. Wittke.