The Budulan and Mincy mesosiderites contain a poikilitic-plagioclass matrix with othopyroxene chadacrysts and interstitial-subophitic inverted pigeonite. Orthopyroxene chadacrysts in Mincy and Budulan are uniformly more aluminous (and in Mincy some are more magnesian) than orthopyroxene clasts. They could not have been derived from clasts by metamorphism. Interstitial inverted pigeonite is more ferroan than adjacent orthopyroxene in the matrix, consistent with the crystallization of a melt with the sequence orthopyroxene followed by pigeonite. The magnesian chadacrysts in Mincy could not have formed from a melt in equilibrium with the clasts (anatexis) but could have crystallized from impact melt. The most magnesian chadacryst are enclosed in large reversely zoned plagioclase crystals. Such zoning can be caused by undercooling, which is expected in melt lacking plagioclase clasts and associated nuclei. Mincy contains plagioclase-poor regions in which plagioclase is interstitial-poikilitic and and more plagioclase-rich regions with coarsely poikilitic texture. This is interpreted as separation of silicate melt into pools. Reckling Peak A80258, a plagioclase-poikilitic mesosiderite with a very high chadacryst/plagioclase ratio, resembles Mincy material from which melt has been extracted. The suggested origin of the plagioclase-poikilitic mesosiderites is impact melting of a metal-silicate mixture. |