Late accretion and lithification of chondritic parent bodies: Mg isotope studies on fragments from primitive chondrites and chondritic breccias

Abstract

Recent results of isotopic dating studies (182Hf-182W, 26Al-26Mg) and the increasing number of observed igneous and metamorphosed fragments in (primitive) chondrites provide strong evidence that accretion of differentiated planetesimals predates that of primitive chondrite parent bodies. The primitive chondrites Adrar 003 and Acfer 094 contain some unusual fragments that seem to have undergone recrystallization. Magnesium isotope analyses reveal no detectable radiogenic 26Mg in any of the studied fragments. The possibility that evidence for 26Al was destroyed by parent body metamorphism after formation is not likely because several other constituents of these chondrites do not show any metamorphic features. Since final accretion of a planetesimal must have occurred after formation of its youngest components, formation of these parent bodies must thus have been relatively late (i.e., after most 26Al had decayed). Al-Mg isotope data for some igneous-textured clasts (granitoids and andesitic fragments) within the two chondrite regolith breccias Adzhi-Bogdo and Study Butte reveal also no evidence for radiogenic 26Mg. As calculated from the upper limits, the formation of these igneous clasts, the incorporation into the parent body regolith, and the lithification must have occurred at least 3.8 Myr (andesite in Study Butte) and 4.7 Myr (granitoids in Adzhi-Bogdo) after calciumaluminum-rich inclusions (CAI) formation. The absence of 26Mg excess in the igneous inclusions does not exclude 26Al from being a heat source for planetary melting. In large, early formed planetesimals, cooling below the closure temperature of the Al-Mg system may be too late for any evidence for live 26Al (in the form of 26Mg excess) to be preserved. Thus, growing evidence exists that chondritic meteorites represent the products of a complex, multi-stage history of accretion, parent body modification, disruption and re-accretion.