An experimental assessment of the potential of sulfide saturation of the source regions of eucrites and angrites: Implications for asteroidal models of core formation, late accretion and volatile element depletions

The geochemistry of asteroidal magmas provides fundamental clues to the processes involved in the origin and early evolution of planetary bodies. Although sulfides are important reservoirs for a diverse suite of major and trace elements, it is currently unclear whether the interiors of asteroid Vesta and the Angrite Parent Body were sulfide liquid saturated during petrogenesis of non-cumulate eucrites and volcanic angrites. To assess the potential of sulfide liquid saturation in the interiors of these bodies, high pressure (P) - temperature (T) experiments were used to quantify the sulfur concentrations at sulfide saturation (SCSS) for volcanic angrites and non-cumulate eucrites. The sulfide-silicate partitioning behavior of various trace elements was simultaneously quantified to study their geochemical behavior at sulfide liquid saturation.