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A large, igneous-textured, and 2 cm-sized spherical object from the L5/6 chondrite NWA 8192 was investigated for its chemical composition, petrography, O isotopic composition, and Hf-W chronology. The petrography and chemical data indicate that this object closely resembles commonly found chondrules in ordinary chondrites and is therefore classified as a “macrochondrule.* As a result of metal loss during its formation, the macrochondrule exhibits elevated Hf/W, which makes it possible to date this object using the short-lived 182Hf-182W system. The Hf-W data provide a two-stage model age for metal–silicate fractionation of 1.4 ± 0.6 Ma after Ca-Al-rich inclusion (CAI) formation, indicating that the macrochondrule formed coevally to normal-sized chondrules from ordinary chondrites. By contrast, Hf-W data for metal from the host chondrite yield a younger model age of ~11 Ma after CAIs. This younger age agrees with Hf-W ages of other type 5–6 ordinary chondrites, and corresponds to the time of cooling below the Hf-W closure temperature during thermal metamorphism on the parent body. The Hf-W model age difference between the macrochondrule and the host metal demonstrates that the Hf-W systematics of the bulk macrochondrule were not disturbed during thermal metamorphism, and therefore, that the formation age of such objects can still be determined even in strongly metamorphosed samples. Collectively, this study illustrates that chondrule formation was not limited to mm-size objects, implying that the rarity of macrochondrules reflects either that this process was very inefficient, that subsequent nebular size-sorting decimated large chondrules, or that large precursors were rare.

A handful of events, such as the condensation of refractory inclusions and the formation of chondrules, represent important stages in the formation and evolution of the early solar system and thus are critical to understanding its development. Compared to the refractory inclusions, chondrules appear to have a protracted period of formation that spans millions of years. As such, understanding chondrule formation requires a catalog of reliable ages, free from as many assumptions as possible. The Pb-Pb chronometer has this potential; however, because common individual chondrules have extremely low uranium contents, obtaining U-corrected Pb-Pb ages of individual chondrules is unrealistic in the vast majority of cases at this time. Thus, in order to obtain the most accurate 238U/235U ratio possible for chondrules, we separated and pooled thousands of individual chondrules from the Allende meteorite. In this work, we demonstrate that no discernible differences exist in the 238U/235U compositions between chondrule groups when separated by size and magnetic susceptibility, suggesting that no systematic U-isotope variation exists between groups of chondrules. Consequently, chondrules are likely to have a common 238U/235U ratio for any given meteorite. A weighted average of the six groups of chondrule separates from Allende results in a 238U/235U ratio of 137.786 ± 0.004 (±0.016 including propagated uncertainty on the U standard [Richter et al. 2010]). Although it is still possible that individual chondrules have significant U isotope variation within a given meteorite, this value represents our best estimate of the 238U/235U ratio for Allende chondrules and should be used for absolute dating of these objects, unless such chondrules can be measured individually.

Cadmium is a highly volatile element and its abundance in meteorites may help better understand volatility-controlled processes in the solar nebula and on meteorite parent bodies. The large thermal neutron capture cross section of 113Cd suggests that Cd isotopes might be well suited to quantify neutron fluences in extraterrestrial materials. The aims of this study were (1) to evaluate the range and magnitude of Cd concentrations in magmatic iron meteorites, and (2) to assess the potential of Cd isotopes as a neutron dosimeter for iron meteorites. Our new Cd concentration data determined by isotope dilution demonstrate that Cd concentrations in iron meteorites are significantly lower than in some previous studies. In contrast to large systematic variations in the concentration of moderately volatile elements like Ga and Ge, there is neither systematic variation in Cd concentration amongst troilites, nor amongst metal phases of different iron meteorite groups. Instead, Cd is strongly depleted in all iron meteorite groups, implying that the parent bodies accreted well above the condensation temperature of Cd (i.e., ≈650 K) and thus incorporated only minimal amounts of highly volatile elements. No Cd isotope anomalies were found, whereas Pt and W isotope anomalies for the same iron meteorite samples indicate a significant fluence of epithermal and higher energetic neutrons. This observation demonstrates that owing to the high Fe concentrations in iron meteorites, neutron capture mainly occurs at epithermal and higher energies. The combined Cd-Pt-W isotope results from this study thus demonstrate that the relative magnitude of neutron capture-induced isotope anomalies is strongly affected by the chemical composition of the irradiated material. The resulting low fluence of thermal neutrons in iron meteorites and their very low Cd concentrations make Cd isotopes unsuitable as a neutron dosimeter for iron meteorites.