Meteorites

Falls and finds Find: typically, someone finds a strange rocky/metallic object- may have been affected significantly by terrestrial weathering and alteration Fall: the fireball of the falling meteorite is observed, and the freshly fallen pieces are collected on the ground- no terrestrial alteration Most meteorites derived from the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter Some from Moon and Mars

Meteorite classification

R- Rumuruti chondrite

Meteorite types
Undifferentiated meteorites
Chondrites ~85% of falls Closest to the solar nebula composition for non-volatile elements condensed samples of undifferentiated cosmic material Thought to be specimens of planetary material in very nearly the same state when the planets first formed Never experienced planetary melting or igneous differentiation

Differentiated meteorites
(1) Achondrites- (~8% of falls) e.g., Martian meteorites, lunar meteorites (2) Stony irons- (~1% of falls) formed by igneous processes on major or minor planets E.g., fragmentation of core-mantle differentiated asteroids (3) Irons- (~6% of falls)

Meteorites

Carbonaceous Chondrites (Primitve, organic rich, contain CAIs) Ordinary Chondrites (Aggregates of chondrules, CAIs, metal, matrix) Irons (cores of differentiated planetesimals) Stony-irons (mechanical mixes of Fe and rock) Basaltic Achondrites (Crusts and mantles of differentiated planetesimals)

Iron meteorites
Predominantly composed of Fe-Ni alloy Two basic minerals: kamacite (very little Ni) and taenite (20-50% Ni) The cubic crystal structure differs between the two intergrown plates in a characteristic pattern The kamacite/taenite ratio differs between different groups: hexahedrites and octahedrites

Widmansttten pattern

Chondrites
Chondrites are stony meteorites that have not been modified due to melting or differentiation of the parent body The most abundant constituents of chondrites are chondrules, which are igneous particles that crystallized rapidly in minutes to hours Chondrules composed largely of olivine and pyroxene, commonly contain metallic Fe-Ni and are 0.0110 mm in size Chondrites are the oldest known rockstheir components formed during the birth of the solar system ca. 4,567 Ma Best clues to the origin of the solar system - Building blocks of planets Abundances of nonvolatile elements are close to those in the solar photosphere Broadly ultramafic in composition, consisting largely of Fe, Mg, Si, O Chondrites contain diverse proportions of three other components: refractory inclusions (0.0110 vol.%), metallic Fe-Ni (,0.170%) and matrix material (180%) Embedded in the matrix are presolar grains, which predate the formation of our solar system and originated elsewhere in the galaxy

Structure of chondrites
Matrix: dark, fine-grained background CAI: whitish, irregularly shaped, calciumaluminum-rich inclusions-Hibonite, Pervoskite, Melilite, spinel, diop, An, Fo, corundum- earliest condensed /crystallized refractory solids in the solar system Chondrules show textural features, which indicate they are the products of rapid cooling of numerous ferromagnesian silicate melt droplets Matrix that binds the chondrules consists of a disequilibrium mixture of minerals ranging from those formed at very high temperatures (>1400 K) to very low temperatures (~273 K) Preservation of disequilibrium assemblage of high temperature and low temperature minerals attests to the primitive nature of these meteorites Chondrules: nearly spherical droplets, typically of mm-size-Ol, Py, Pl, Fe-Ni metal, FeS

Chondrite formation
Aggregate of high-and lowtemperature materials CAIs may result from extreme heating in the innermost parts of the early, active nebula Chondrules were made by rapid, less extreme heating and melting of large grains

Chemical classes of chondrites

CI (Ivuna) CM (Murchison) CO (Ornans) CV (Vigarano) Carbonaceous ~4% of falls

H (high iron) Ordinary L (low iron) LL (low Fe, low metal) EH (high iron) EL (low iron) R enstatite Rumuruti

~79% of falls

~2% of falls ~0.1% of falls

Classification of chondrite

Chondrites divided into three clans based on their major-element compositions and the ratio of Fe bounded to metal and sulfides to Fe bounded as oxides in silicates A function of the oxygen fugacity of the meteorite forming environment In high oxygen fugacity environments, the Fe is bound up in silicates as Fe2+, whereas in low oxygen environments, the Fe is bound in metals as Fe0

Petrologic types of chondrites

Reflect the state of alteration - either aqueous alteration (carbonaceous) or thermal metamorphism (other classes)
Most ordinary chondrites are thermally metamorphosed Most carbonaceous chondrites show aqueous alteration

Oxygen isotopes in chondrites

Why are chondrites important ?

Goldschmidt, Suess, and Urey showed that chondrites provide best estimates for mean abundances of condensable elements in solar system These estimates were essential for developing theories for the formation of elements in evolved stars Presolar grains provide additional clues to nucleosynthesis and the subsequent growth of circumstellar grains Chondrules, metal grains, refractory inclusions, and matrix materials formed under very diverse conditions in the solar system and appear to offer insights into processes that occurred during the formation of the Sun and planets from a collapsing cloud of interstellar dust and gas The rocks themselves provide clues to the geological processes including impact processes that affected asteroids over 4.5 Ga Studies of chondrites help us to match chondrite groups with asteroid classes, to understand the origin and evolution of the asteroid belt

Solar abundance of the elements

General decrease in abundance with atomic number (H most abundant, U least abundant) Relative to this trend: Big negative anomaly at Be, B, Li Moderate positive anomaly around Fe Saw tooth pattern from odd-even effect This data is obtained from spectroscopic observation of atomic absorption lines in the solar spectrum, from light passing through solar atmosphere
99% of solar system mass is in the sun, so solar composition is good approximation of bulk solar system composition Some elements, for which spectroscopy is difficult, are filled in using meteorite data

Successful model of nuclear origins needs to explain all these features in the abundance pattern!

Solar abundance of the elements

Solar composition vs. different groups of chondrites Only one group of

meteorites, the CI chondrites, closely match solar abundances for elements representing the various cosmochemical groups and excluding the extremely volatile elements such as the rare gases, hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen All other chondrite groups deviate from solar abundances and the deviations can be understood, at least in principle, by gassolid fractionation processes in the early solar system

Solar system composition- CI chondrite

Except for the most volatile elements (i.e., more volatile than nitrogen), CI carbonaceous chondrites are excellent models of bulk solar system composition Are they also close to bulk earth composition ?

Z r

While the sun is basically H+He, the Earth is dominated by O, Si, Mg, Fe. Much Fe is in core, leaving rocky earth dominated by O, Si, Mg, Fe

Volatile depletion indicates incomplete condensation of volatiles

Volatility trend

Among the several classes of carbonaceous chondrites, relative abundance of all elements are controlled by volatility; this plot shows the CV chondrites versus CI

CV vs. CI

Bulk composition of meteorites

More recent work shows pervasive volatility control even among moderately refractory elements; the Earth is on the Carbonaceous chondrite line, but ordinary chondrites are different except for the very most refractory elements

Bulk composition of meteorites

Carbonaceous chondrites plot on simple volatility controlled lines in consistent order, OC do not Variation due to incomplete condensation/retention of volatiles Earth is on CC line but does not match with any group

Incomplete condensation (retention) of volatiles

Laboratory quantification of volatility by condensation temperature shows that relative abundance in carbonaceous chondrites is controlled by pure vapor-solid equilibrium down to ~900 K, then adsorption must become significant for retaining many highly volatile elements.

Bulk composition of Earth and Volatility

Major element composition of Earth does not match CI chondrites

For volatile and semi volatile elements Earth and CI chondrites are different

Estimating BSE composition

Using mass balance approach
Problems: (1) We do not know composition of BSE (2) We do not know the concentration of siderophile elements in the Fe core. (3) BSE has differentiated into many reservoirs, may be difficult to find a relict sample of it. (4) Adding up these derivative silicate reservoirs is not a trivial task as a number of uncertainties can arise.

(5) Composition of each reservoir may be uncertain due to either the lack of samples or to heterogeneity within a reservoir (e.g., the continental crust is highly heterogeneous vertically and laterally). (6) It must be assumed that the presence of other reservoirs has not been overlooked. Size of depleted and undifferentiated mantle is not known

Using mantle peridotite compositions

Wh ite arr ow s: dire ctio n of incr eas ing mel t extr acti on Ap pro ach is to ass

Using primitive (chondritic) meteorite compositions

Assuming primitive Earth formed from undifferentiated rocky planetesimals, bulk Earth should have chondritic or solar abundances of refractory elements For those refractory elements that do not enter the core but instead reside in the silicate mantle (refractory lithophile elements), BSE, or primitive mantle, possesses chondritic relative abundances Major element compositions of terrestrial rocks not matched by any chondrite groups While it is valid to assume that the Earths refractory lithophile elements are in chondritic proportions, the fact that the major element composition of the bulk Earth is not matched by any meteorite group indicates: That not only can we not obtain direct information on absolute elemental abundances in the Earth from meteorites, but we also cannot obtain the relative abundances of moderately volatile and volatile elements in the Earth by direct comparison to meteorites

BSE composition of the Earth

BSE Mg/Si and Al/Si composition is at intersection between the terrestrial mantle xenolith array and the chondrite array BSE major element composition is not equal to any class of meteorites, so if bulk earth is, e.g., CI chondrite in composition, then lower mantle must be compositionally distinct (or Si is a major constituent of core) Some of these primitive mantle samples have chondritic refractory element ratios Those that have been depleted in meltable components have non-chondritic refractory element ratios due to the different behaviors of these elements during melting One could thus determine absolute elemental abundances by extrapolating compositional trends in melt-depleted peridotites back to where refractory element ratios become chondritic Once the absolute abundance of one element has been determined by such an extrapolation, the abundances of other elements follow from their ratios to each other

BSE composition X

Melting trend

Chondritic ratio

X/Y refractory major element

Bulk composition of the Earth

Mg/Fe vs. Si/Fe for CC, the Sun and Earth CC have constant Mg/Si ratios, but variable Fe contents The Mg/Si-ratio of the Earths upper mantle is 1.029 which is significantly higher than the CI-ratio of 0.90

Early Earth evolution-From Dust to Planets

Solar Nebula

CAI - Formation Chondrule - Formation Accretion

Allende Ca, Al-rich inclusion (CAI) 4.567 Ga Pb-Pb age

(Amelin et al., 2002)

Differentiation

Internal structure of the Earth

Metallic core Silicate mantle Heterogeneous crust

How and when did the Earth develop this structure ?

Homogeneous vs. heterogeneous accretion

How and when was Earths radial heterogeneity established? Hypothesis 1- Heterogeneous accretion: Radial heterogeneity primordial. Earth layered from the outset, i.e., solid particles making up Earth were assembled in order of decreasing density. Fe, being very dense, accreted first to form the core, while silicates, being less dense, accreted afterwards, forming the mantle. Hypothesis 2- Homogeneous accretion: Earth was homogeneously accreted. It was initially a homogeneous mixture of metallic Fe and silicates. Metallic core formation is the result of metal-silicate segregation after most of the Earth had been accreted. It is now believed that the Homogeneous accretion is most likely but that coremantle segregation occurred very shortly after the Earth accreted

Planetary differentiation

Agee (2004)

Magma ocean formation ?

Element fractionation during differentiation

Used as tracers for geochemical processes geochronology

(Jochum, MPI)

Sm-Nd fractionation during silicate differentiation

Nd
MANTLE
(Depleted Reservoir)

CORE
High Sm/Nd 142Nd, 143Nd

Sm

DSm > DNd CRUST

(Enriched Reservoir) Low Sm/Nd 142Nd, 143Nd