Search

The variation in sizes of chondrules from one chondrite to the next is thought to be due to some sorting process in the early solar nebula. Hypotheses for the sorting process include chondrule sorting by mass and sorting by some aerodynamic mechanism; one such aerodynamic mechanism is the process of turbulent concentration (TC). We present the results of a series of statistical tests of chondrule data from several different chondrites. The data do not clearly distinguish between various options for the sorting parameter, but we find that the data are inconsistent with being drawn from lognormal or (three-parameter) Weibull distributions in chondrule radius. We also find that all but one of the chondrule data sets tested are consistent with being drawn from the TC distribution., Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables. Published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science

Chondrite constituents display signs of aerodynamic sorting. In prior work we have shown that plausible conditions of nebula turbulence aerodynamically select chondrule-sized particles for strong concentration into zones 5-6 orders of magnitude denser than average. We refer to this process as Turbulent Concentration (TC). The TC hypothesis also predicts a particle size distribution within densely concentrated zones which is in very good agreement with that of chondrules; disaggregated from CV chondrites by Paque and Cuzzi and, from an LL UOC, by Hughes. Here we present results from the TC hypothesis relating to other aspects of the properties of chondrules and chondrites specifically, the thickness of fine-grained rims, which am often referred to as 'accretion rims'. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Refractory inclusions or Ca-Al-rich inclusions (CAI's) from carbonaceous chondrites span a wide range of bulk compositions that cannot be explained either by segregation from a gas of solar composition at different points in the condensation sequence or by fractional crystallization from a parent liquid. CAI's are commonly rimmed by Wark-Lovering (W-L) rims, a series of nearly monomineralic layers that have been a source of controversy since the variety of rim sequences occurring on different types of CAI's from Allende were described. The origin of these distinctive features has not yet been resolved, with proponents of accretion, condensation, flash heating, ablation, evaporation, etc. Rims have generated considerable interest because they potentially contain clues to conditions experienced by CAI's after the formation of the inclusion and prior to incorporation into the parent body. Ceramic bricks in contact with hot steel slag may produce reaction products in rimlike fashion similar to those found in CAI's. The similarity between the mineralogy of blast furnace slags and CAI's has long been recognized, with both containing unusual phases not found in terrestrial materials. We provide here a comparison between a ceramic brick/slag multiple-layered interface and a multiple-layered interface between a melilite-perovskite object and a melilite-spinel object in the Allende inclusion USNM 4691-1. These results have implications in interpreting the origin of rims and the textures and compositions of CAI's.

The crystallization sequences, mineral chemistries, and textures resulting from the cooling in air from 1275-1580 C to below 100 C at rates between 0.5 and 100 c/hr of an average Type B Ca-Al-rich inclusion composition are investigated. Comparison of experimental results with petrographic observations of Type B CaIs indicates that most inclusions were partially melted and then cooled at rates of the order of a few tenths to tens of degrees per hour, with maximum temperatures of about 1400 C suggested for intermediate Type B Allende inclusions. Data are consistent with the drag heating of particles falling though nebular gas, heating in nebular shock fronts, or other thermal heterogeneities in the early nebula allowing time scales for heating of CAIs much shorter than those for the nebular cloud as a whole.

Many of Type B Allende inclusions are found to have reverse zoning over restricted portions of each crystal, in contrast to those in Type A's, which are reversely zoned throughout. Results of dynamic crystallization experiments on compositions similar to an average Type B inclusion are reported in which reversely zoned melilite rims were grown on normally zoned cores. The fact that these zoning patterns have been duplicated is interpreted as evidence that natural melilites having such zoning were formed by crystallization from a melt. Since reverse zoning could only be produced over a restricted range of experimental conditions, the presence in natural inclusions of the kinds of zoning patterns described here may place constraints on the conditions under which the inclusions formed.