Astrochemistry

Is There A Genetic Relationship Between Chondrules And Matrix?

By Keith Cowing

Status Report

astro-ph.EP

September 16, 2024

Filed under Asteorid, astro-ph.EP, astrochemistry, astrogeology, chondrite, chondrule, Comet, meteorite, Protoplanetary Disk

Is There A Genetic Relationship Between Chondrules And Matrix? — Chondrules exhibiting complex structures with multiple zoning and rims, which is indicative of multiple melting events. A) Chondrule from the LAP 02342 CR2 chondrite with a primary and secondary shell and a surrounding igneous rim, all separated by metal rims (from Rubin, 2010). B) Complex chondrule from CR2 chondrite Acfer 139 with four shells (s) and metal (m) rims (from Hobbart et al., 2015), with Si = red, Ca = green, 12 Fe = blue. Olivine in pyroxene-bearing layer S2 grew epitaxialy on olivine in pyroxene-free layer S1, the two separated by a thin layer M1 of numerous metal grains. — astro-ph.EP

Chondritic components such as chondrules and matrix are the key time capsules that can help us understand the evolution and dynamics of the protoplanetary disk from which the Solar System originated.

Knowledge of where and how these components formed and to what extent they were transported in the gaseous disk provides major constraints to astrophysical models that investigate planet formation.

Here, we explore whether chondrules and matrix are genetically related to each other and formed from single reservoirs per chondrite group or if every chondrite represents a unique proportion of components transported from a small number of formation reservoirs in the disk. These static versus dynamic disk interpretations of cosmochemical data have profound implications for the accretion history of the planets in the Solar System.

To fully understand the relationship between chondrules and matrix and their potential complementarity, we dive into the petrological nature and origin of matrix, the chemical and isotopic compositions of chondrules and matrix and evaluate these data considering the effect of secondary alteration observed in chondrites and the potential complexity of chondrule formation.

Even though we, the authors, have used different datasets and arrived at differing interpretations of chondrule-matrix relationships in the past, this review provides clarity on the existing data and has given us new directions towards future research that can resolve the complementarity debate.

Elishevah van Kooten, Adrian Brearley, Denton Ebel, Conel Alexander, Marina Gemma, Dominik Hezel

Comments: accepted in Space Science Reviews
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Geophysics (physics.geo-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:2409.08662 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2409.08662v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2409.08662
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Submission history
From: Elishevah van Kooten
[v1] Fri, 13 Sep 2024 09:24:20 UTC (2,976 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.08662

Astrobiology, Astrogeology, Astrochemistry,

Keith Cowing

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻

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