Early scattering of the solar protoplanetary disk recorded in meteoritic chondrules

Abstract

Meteoritic chondrules are submillimeter spherules representing the major constituent of nondifferentiated planetesimals formed in the solar protoplanetary disk. The link between the dynamics of the disk and the origin of chondrules remains enigmatic. Collisions between planetesimals formed at different heliocentric distances were frequent early in the evolution of the disk. We show that the presence, in some chondrules, of previously unrecognized magnetites of magmatic origin implies the formation of these chondrules under impact-generated oxidizing conditions. The three oxygen isotopes systematic of magmatic magnetites and silicates can only be explained by invoking an impact between silicate-rich and ice-rich planetesimals. This suggests that these peculiar chondrules are by-products of the early mixing in the disk of populations of planetesimals from the inner and outer solar system.