Thermal History Of Cbb Chondrules And Cooling Rate Distributions Of Ejecta Plumes

TL;DR

This study combines experimental crystallization, 3D hydrodynamic simulations, and in situ cooling rate measurements to support the impact plume model for the formation of CBb chondrules in meteorites.

Contribution

It provides the first direct agreement between experimental data and 3D modeling, confirming impact plumes as a plausible environment for CBb chondrule formation.

Findings

Cooling rates of ~10,000K/hr at peak temperature

Cooling rates of ~100K/hr in dense regions

Temperature fluctuations consistent with crystallization experiments

Abstract

It has been proposed that some meteorites, CB and CH chondrites, contain material formed as a result of a protoplanetary collision during accretion. Their melt droplets (chondrules) and FeNi metal are proposed to have formed by evaporation and condensation in the resulting impact plume. We observe that the SO (skeletal olivine) chondrules in CBb chondrites have a blebby texture and an enrichment in refractory elements not found in normal chondrules. Since the texture requires complete melting, their maximum liquidus temperature 1928 K represents a minimum temperature for the putative plume. Dynamic crystallization experiments show that the SO texture can be created only by brief reheating episodes during crystallization giving partial dissolution of olivine. The ejecta plume formed in a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulation (Asphaug et al., 2011) served as the basis for 3D modeling with the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) code FLASH4.3. Tracer particles that move with the fluid cells are used to measure the in situ cooling rates. Their cooling rates are ~10,000K/hr briefly at peak temperature and, in the densest regions of the plume, ~100 K/hr for 1400-1600 K. A small fraction of cells is seen to be heating at any one time, with heating spikes explained by compression of parcels of gas in a heterogeneous patchy plume. These temperature fluctuations are comparable to those required in crystallization experiments. For the first time, we find agreement between experiment and models that supports the plume model specifically for the formation of CBb chondrules.