Chondrule trace element geochemistry at the mineral scale

TL;DR

This study analyzes trace element compositions in mineral phases of chondrules from carbonaceous chondrites, revealing insights into their formation processes, cooling rates, and mineral crystallization history.

Contribution

It provides detailed mineral-scale trace element data from multiple meteorites, highlighting the crystallization and cooling processes of chondrules.

Findings

Mesostasis has REE concentrations 10-20 times CI.

Low-Ca pyroxene has near 0.1x CI LREE and HREE concentrations.

Olivine shows HREE at 0.1-1x CI and LREE around 0.01x CI.

Abstract

We report trace element analyses from mineral phases in chondrules from carbonaceous chondrites (Vigarano, Renazzo and Acfer 187), carried out by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results are similar in all three meteorites. Mesostasis has Rare Earth Element (REE) concentrations of 10-20 x CI. Low-Ca pyroxene has light REE (LREE) concentrations near 0.1 x CI and heavy REE (HREE) near 1 x CI respectively. Olivine has HREE concentrations at 0.1-1 x CI and LREE around 10-2 x CI. The coarsest olivine crystals tend to have the most fractionated REE patterns, indicative of equilibrium partitioning. Low-Ca pyroxene in the most pyroxene-rich chondrules tends to have the lowest REE concentrations. Type I chondrules seem to have undergone a significant degree of batch crystallization (as opposed to fractional crystallization), which requires cooling rates slower than 1-100 K/h. This would fill the gap between igneous CAIs and type II chondrules. The anticorrelation between REE abundances and pyroxene mode may be understood as due to dilution by addition of silica to the chondrule melt, as in the gas-melt interaction scenario of Libourel et al. (2006). The rapid cooling rate (of the order of 1000 K/h) which seems recorded by low-Ca pyroxene, contrasted with the more diverse record of olivine, may point to a nonlinear cooling history or suggest that formation of pyroxene-rich chondrule margins was an event distinct from the crystallization of the interior.