Volatile Content of 4-Vesta: Evidence from Unequilibrated Eucrites

Abstract: Eucrites are a class of basaltic meteorites that, along with the howardites and diogenites, likely derive from the asteroid 4-Vesta. This asteroid is depleted in moderately volatile elements relative to the Earth and carbonaceous chondrites. Extrapolation of this depletion trend predicts that bulk silicate 4-Vesta (BSV) contains at most 250-1000 µg/g H2O, which is approximately a factor of two lower than the H2O content of Earth. To obtain more accurate H2O and F estimates for BSV, we examine…