Growth and thermal evolution of icy planetesimals

TL;DR

This study models the thermal evolution of icy planetesimals, revealing how size, growth timing, and mode influence their temperature history and potential to form observed materials like those found on Ryugu.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model incorporating growth, impact heating, and water phase changes to re-evaluate icy planetesimal thermal histories during early Solar System formation.

Findings

Larger planetesimals tend to reach higher temperatures.

Early accretion results in higher thermal peaks.

Ryugu's materials likely formed near the surface of a hydrated layer.

Abstract

Icy planetesimals are likely to supply volatiles to terrestrial planets and serve as building blocks of icy bodies in the outer Solar System. Samples from the C-type asteroid Ryugu, collected by the Hayabusa-2 spacecraft, indicate a low-temperature history with aqueous alteration and organic materials. In contrast, iron meteorites with isotopic ratios similar to carbonaceous chondrites suggest exposure to higher temperatures. These findings imply that the thermal evolution of icy planetesimals is highly diverse. Since direct exploration provides only localized data, understanding this diversity requires comparing observational results with model calculations incorporating key evolutionary processes. We develop a model including radial growth, impact heating, water phase changes, aqueous alteration, and structural differentiation, to re-evaluate the thermal evolution of icy planetesimals during the first 100 Myr after CAI formation. The model considers final radius (10-1000 km), growth onset (1.0 or 2.0 Myr after CAI), growth duration (0.4 or 4.0 Myr), and growth mode (linear or runaway). Our results show that larger planetesimals generally reach higher temperatures, but growth timing and mode significantly affect thermal evolution. Early accretion leads to higher temperatures, with some bodies reaching the Fe-FeS eutectic (1250 K), while delayed or prolonged growth reduces heating. Our results show that the constituent materials of Ryugu, which kept below 40 degC, likely formed near the surface of a hydrated mineral layer. This is possible even in planetesimals several hundred kilometers in size due to efficient heat transport via convection. If accretion begins 2.0 Myr after CAI and completes in 0.4 Myr, a wide region in such a body could yield Ryugu's material.