Epitaxial growth of nanophase magnetite in Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001: Implications for biogenic mineralization

Abstract

Crystallographic relationships between magnetite, sulfides, and carbonate rosettes in fracture zones of the Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 Martian meteorite have been studied using analytical electron microscopy. We have focused on those magnetite grains whose growth mechanisms can be rigorously established from their crystallographic properties. Individual magnetite nanocrystals on the surfaces of carbonates are epitaxially intergrown with one another in "stacks" of single-domain crystals. Other magnetite nanocrystals are epitaxially intergrown with the surfaces of the carbonate substrates. The observed magnetite/carbonate (hkl) Miller indices orientation relationships are (1, 1,3)m ¿¿ (1, 1 ,0)c and (1, 1 ,1)m ¿¿ (0,0, 3)c with lattice mismatches of approximately 13% and approximately 11%, respectively. Epitaxy is a common mode of vapor-phase growth of refractory oxides like magnetite, as is the spiral growth about axial screw dislocations previously observed in other magnetite nanocrystals in ALH 84001. Epitaxy rules out intracellular precipitation of these magnetites by (Martian) organisms, provides further evidence of the high-temperature (> 120 degrees C) inorganic origins of magnetite in ALH 84001, and indicates that the carbonates also have been exposed to elevated temperatures.