Study on the first howardite (GRV 150277) from Grove Mountains, Antarctica and its exogenous clasts

The Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite (HED) meteorite clan and its potential parent body 4 Vesta are the hot spots of international deep space exploration and asteroid research. Among them, howardites formed by complex impact mixing are the main object in the international frontier field of studying the composition and evolution of Vesta regolith. Since the 21st century, China has recovered a large number of meteorites from Grove Mountains (GRV), Antarctica, which has provided important research specimens for the development of Chinese planetary science. Three eucrites have been found among the classified Antarctic meteorites of China, which provide an important opportunity to study the magmatic activity of Vesta. In this work, a systematic petrological and mineralogical study was carried out on the newly collected GRV meteorite GRV 150277 from Antarctica in 2016. The results show that GRV 150277 has typical brecciated texture and is mainly composed of nearly equal proportions of diogenitic and eucritic clasts. Thus, it is the first howardite for China discovered in Antarctica. In addition, a small amount of iron meteorite and CM chondrite debris can be seen in GRV 150277, indicating that the Vesta regolith has experienced multiple asteroids impacts. The discovery of the GRV 150277 meteorite and the detailed study of its exogenous debris are of great instructive significance for determining the composition and evolution history of Vesta regolith.