Shocked meteorites: Argon-40-argon-39 evidence for multiple impacts

Abstract

To contribute to the understanding of the impact history of asteroids, we performed a high-resolution 40Ar-39Ar study of ten moderately to highly shocked chondrites, which we selected according to the shock classification given by Stöffler et al. (1991). Two recent shocked chondrite falls and two highly shocked eucrites completed our sample suite. When possible, we separated impact melt from host rock for separate analysis. In total, we studied 28 samples from 14 meteorites. In some cases, atmospheric Ar that we associate with terrestrial weathering was identified and corrected for. The ages we obtained range between ∼100 Ma and ∼4.1 Ga and are clearly distinct from primordial ages that correspond to solar system formation. We reproduced the previously reported cluster of L-chondrite ages, ∼500;Ma. The most prominent result of our study is that, in the case of chondrites, melts generally are older tharr host rocks or melt-embedded unmolten rocks. To solve this apparent paradox, we propose that the melt-forming event, which was the most severe shock episode in the history of these meteorites, has not been the only occasion affecting their K-Ar systems. At least one later impact metamorphism must have occured. The response of the K-Ar clock to this second event was more severe in the host rock than in the previously (in the first event) generated melt veins and pockets because of different Ar retention rates. Hence, impact metamorphism on meteorite parent bodies indeed was a multistage process extending in time over billions of years.