Extensive impact melting on the H-chondrite parent asteroid during the cataclysmic bombardment of the early Solar System: evidence from the achondritic meteorite Dar al Gani 896

DaG 896 is an olivine-rich microporphyritic rock of komatiitic composition. Both the olivine composition (Fa 17.5±2.1, [Mn/Mg] = 0.0061) and the bulk oxygen isotopic composition (δ 17O = +2.55, δ 18O = +3.50) indicate that DaG 896 is a sample of the H-chondrite parent body. The bulk chemistry shows an H-chondritic distribution of lithophile elements, whereas chalcophile and siderophile elements are strongly depleted, indicating formation through whole-rock melting (or nearly so) of H-chondrite material, nearly complete loss of the metal plus sulfide component, and crystallization without significant igneous fractionation. Superheated, severely shocked chondritic relics (∼10 vol%), typically in the form of corroded lithic fragments 1 m h -1 during the first few hours of crystallization on asteroidal bodies of >25 km radius. The ∼3.7 Ga age of DaG 896 nearly overlaps with the slightly older resetting ages of H-chondrites (all impact melts) available from the literature, indicating that the H-chondrite parent asteroid underwent extensive impact melting at the enduring of the cataclysmic bombardment of the early solar system. Such an age overlap may also indicate early disruption of the initial H-chondrite parent asteroid. The close similarity between the bulk composition and degassing age of DaG 896 and silicate inclusions in IIE iron meteorites is further evidence in support of a common origin by impact melting and metal-silicate segregation on the H-chondrite parent asteroid. Our new high-precision oxygen isotopic measurements of H-chondrites (Δ 17O = 0.77 ± 0.04) should be extended to IIEs to verify this possible petrogenetic link