Magnesium isotope evidence for single stage formation of CB chondrules by colliding planetesimals

Abstract

Chondrules are igneous spherical objects preserved in chondritic meteorites and believed to have formed during transient heating events in the solar protoplanetary disk. Chondrules present in the metal-rich CB chondrites show unusual chemical and petrologic features not observed in other chondrite groups, implying a markedly distinct formation mechanism. Here, we report high-precision Mg-isotope data for 10 skeletal olivine chondrules from the Hammadah al Hamra 237 (HH237) chondrite to probe the formation history of CB chondrules. The 27Al/24Mg ratios of individual chondrules are positively correlated to their stable Mg-isotope composition (μ25Mg), indicating that the correlated variability was imparted by a volatility-controlled process (evaporation/condensation). The mass-independent 26Mg composition (μ26Mg*) of chondrules is consistent with single stage formation from an initially homogeneous magnesium reservoir if the observed μ25Mg variability was generated by non-ideal Rayleigh-type evaporative fractionation characterized by a β value of 0.5142, in agreement with experimental work. The magnitude of the mass-dependent fractionation (∼300 ppm) is significantly lower than that suggested by the increase in 27Al/24Mg values, indicating substantial suppression of isotopic fractionation during evaporative loss of Mg, possibly due to evaporation at high Mg partial pressure. Thus, the Mg-isotope data of skeletal chondrules from HH237 are consistent with their origin as melts produced in the impact-generated plume of colliding planetesimals. The inferred μ26Mg* value of -3.87 ± 0.93 ppm for the CB parent body is significantly lower than the bulk solar system value of 4.5 ± 1.1 ppm inferred from CI chondrites, suggesting that CB chondrites accreted material comprising an early formed 26Al-free component. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.