Dating climatic change in hot deserts using desert varnish on meteorite finds

A thin coating of desert varnish occurs on Forrest 009 and Nurina 004, both equilibrated ordinary chondrite (L6) finds from the Nullarbor Plain, Australia. This finely laminated deposit is chemically and petrographically comparable to the varnish found on terrestrial rocks. Forrest 009, which has a terrestrial age of 5.9 kyr, has a 100–130 μm thick coating of desert varnish that has a laterally consistent chemical microstratigraphy comprising a narrow Ba- and Mn-poor lower region, a thick Ba- and Mn-rich central area and a narrow outer zone almost devoid of both cations. The interior of the meteorite contains Fe-oxide and oxyhydroxide veins that have formed by chemical weathering of metals and sulphides. As these veins do not cross-cut the varnish, it must have accreted rapidly relative to the weathering rate of the meteorite. The ≤70 μm thick varnish on Nurina 004, which has a terrestrial age of 33.4 kyr, lacks a consistent chemical microstratigraphy, but it is cross-cut by Fe-oxide and oxyhydroxide veins, some of which have supplied Fe to the varnish. This implies that the chemical weathering rate of Nurina 004’s interior was slow in comparison to the accretion rate of the varnish. The petrography and chemical composition of varnish on Forrest 009 indicates that this meteorite may have resided in a relatively humid environment for most of its 5.9 kyr terrestrial history and that the Nullarbor recently became more arid. This conclusion supports results from an analysis of Fe-bearing weathering products in the interior of the meteorite by Mössbauer spectroscopy, which also indicate that Forrest 009 experienced an early period of rapid weathering under relatively humid conditions. The petrography of varnish on Nurina 004 shows that the interior of the meteorite weathered relatively slowly, probably because it fell during an arid time, which is again in agreement with previous Mössbauer spectroscopy results. Results from both meteorites are in agreement with palaeoclimate data derived from a number of other proxies. The implications of this work are that the large number of meteorites that have been collected from several hot deserts of the world may be a powerful source of information on climate change over the last 30–35 kyr.