Outward migration of chondrule fragments in the early Solar System: O-isotopic evidence for rocky material crossing the Jupiter Gap?

• Published in: Geochimica et cosmochimica acta Vol. 282; pp. 133 - 155
• Main Authors: Schrader, Devin L., Nagashima, Kazuhide, Davidson, Jemma, McCoy, Timothy J., Ogliore, Ryan C., Fu, Roger R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2020
• Subjects: Chondrule; Dust; Jupiter gap; Migration; Oxygen isotope; Protoplanetary disk; Jupiter gap; Protoplanetary disk; Oxygen isotope; Dust; Migration; Chondrule
• ISSN: 0016-7037; 1872-9533
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2020.05.014

Determining the origins of chondrule precursors is key to constraining how material migrated in the early Solar System. Chondrules that were only partially melted during their formation retain portions of their solid precursors, termed relict grains. By measuring the chemical and O-isotopic compositions of relict grains in chondrules from an unequilibrated ordinary chondrite (UOC), and Renazzo-like carbonaceous (CR) and Mighei-like carbonaceous (CM) chondrites we constrain their origins and discuss implications for disk transport within the first 4 million years of the Solar System. For all three chondrite groups, the chemical and O-isotopic compositions of dusty olivine grains are sometimes consistent with the reduction of type I (FeO-poor) and/or type II (FeO-rich) chondrules from the same meteorite group. However, other dusty olivine grains from the CM chondrites and the UOC are found to be xenocrysts that require an origin from a source distinct from the host meteorite. This material plausibly originated as fragments of earlier-formed chondrules from another chondrite group or of partially or fully differentiated planetesimals that migrated into an active chondrule-forming region. Multiple CM chondrite dusty olivine chondrules have O-isotope compositions that match those of UOC chondrule olivine (Δ17O ∼ 0‰), suggesting an origin from an UOC source. This implies that UOC chondrules and/or chondrule fragments migrated from the inner Solar System outwards to CM chondrite chondrule-forming region, likely beyond the orbit of Jupiter. These UOC chondrules or chondrule fragments could have migrated outwards in the protoplanetary disk before the formation of the Jupiter Gap, or <300 μm diameter fragments could have migrated outwards after Gap formation as CM chondrite chondrule dusty olivine grains with Δ17O ∼ 0‰ were small enough to pass through Jupiter Gap. The identification of xenocrysts in each meteorite group studied here argues for widespread migration of material in the early Solar System, potentially crossing the Jupiter Gap.