Oxygen isotopes in forsterite grains from Julesburg and Allende: Oxygen-16-rich material in an ordinary chondrite

We have used the Manchester ISOLAB 54 ion microprobe to make in situ measurements of the 17O/16O and 18O/16O ratios of olivine grains in the Julesburg (L3.6) and Allende (CV3) chondrites. We have discovered a population of olivines in Julesburg characterised by (1) the most 16O-rich compositions yet reported for olivine from an ordinary chondrite; (2) cores of low-Fa olivine, which frequently shows blue cathodoluminesce; (3) thick coats of more Fa-rich (Fa ~ 20) olivine, which is also 16O-enriched. In an O isotopic plot, the Julesburg 16O-rich grains form a roughly linear array that is offset from the Allende mixing line. The presence of very low Fa olivine and, sometimes, well-defined Fa-rich coats indicates that these grains experienced significantly less thermal metamorphism than most of the olivine in the meteorite. Some 16O-rich Julesburg grains are associated with minor feldspar or pyroxene and are probably chondrule fragments. They are isotopically indistinguishable from forsterite in Allende; however, Allende forsterite grains do not have the thick Fa20 coats typical of those in Julesburg. These 16O-rich forsterite grains appear to be related to the 'blue olivine' of Steele (1986). Both cores and coats of 16O-rich grains in Julesburg are isotopically distinct from olivine in Semarkona group A and group B chondrules.