Term Eucrite - Essay Example

It is also primarily used for the Paleogene rocks found in Scotland. Eucrites are a part of the HED meteorite clan that consists of over a hundred different meteorites. This is because they mainly originate from the surface of an asteroid called the 4 Vesta (Binzel & Xu, 1993). They are achindritic stony meteorites and are the most distinct of the clan.
This type of rock also consists of the basaltic rock found in the same asteroid. The stones are mostly made of pigeonite, Calcium-poor pyroxene, and anorthite (Calcium-rich plagioclase). The above composition of the different rocks requires that the eucrites be divided into several groups.

The first category is the cumulate eucrites. This type of rock is rare and is thought to originate from the interior of the 4 Vesta, from its crust, and deep within its solidified magma (Binzel, & Xu, 1993). polymict eucrites, on the other hand, are regolith breccias. This type of rock is also scarce and consists mainly of eucrite segments and less than 10% of howardite, known as diogenite. The structure is also as coarse as most other rocks made of silica (Binzel & Xu, 1993). Lastly, the most common type of eucrites, which bears almost all the above rocks characteristics, is spongy and has alternating rough and smooth segments. They are known as Non-cumulate eucrites.