Cohenite: its occurrence and a proposed origin

Abstract

Cohenite is found almost exclusively in meteorites containing from 6 to 8 wt.% Ni. On the basis of phase diagrams and kinetic data it is proposed that cohenite cannot form in meteorites having more than 8 wt.% Ni and that any cohenite which formed in meteorites having Ni content lower than 6 wt.% decomposed during cooling. A series of isothermal sections for the system Fe{single bond}Ni{single bond}C has been constructed between 750 and 600°C from published information on the three constitutent binary systems. The diagrams indicate that the presence of a few tenths of a per cent carbon in a Ni{single bond}Fe alloy may reduce the temperature at which kamacite separates from taenite by more than 50°C. Hence C in iron meteorites may be partly responsible for the postulated supercooled nucleation of kamacite in meteorites proposed by recent authors. Cohenite found in meteorites probably formed over the temperature range 650-610°C. For compositions approximating those of metallic meteorites, the greater the C or Ni content of the alloy, the lower the temperature of formation of cohenite. The presence of cohenite in meteorites indicates neither high nor low pressures of formation. However, the absence of cohenite in meteorites containing the assemblage metal + graphite requires low pressures during cooling. Such meteorites therefore cooled in parent bodies of asteroidal size, or near the surface of large bodies. © 1967.