^1,2Mathieu Roskosz, ^2,3Boris Laurent, ²Hugues Leroux, ¹Laurent Remusat
The Astrophysical Journal 832, 55 Link to Article [http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/832/1/55]
¹IMPMC, CNRS UMR 7590, Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, IRD, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CP 52, 57 rue Cuvier, Paris F-75231, France
²Unité Matériaux et Transformations, Université Lille 1, CNRS UMR 8207, Bâtiment C6, F-59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
³Present address: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St. Andrews, Irvine Building, KY16 9AL, Fife, Scotland, UK.

The origin of hydrogen in chondritic components is poorly understood. Their isotopic composition is heavier than the solar nebula gas. In addition, in most meteorites, hydrous silicates are found to be lighter than the coexisting organic matter. Ionizing irradiation recently emerged as an efficient hydrogen fractionating process in organics, but its effect on H-bearing silicates remains essentially unknown. We report the evolution of the D/H of hydrous silicates experimentally irradiated by electrons. Thin films of amorphous silica, amorphous “serpentine,” and pellets of crystalline muscovite were irradiated at 4 and 30 keV. For all samples, irradiation leads to a large hydrogen loss correlated with a moderate deuterium enrichment of the solid residue. The entire data set can be described by a Rayleigh distillation. The calculated fractionation factor is consistent with a kinetically controlled fractionation during the loss of hydrogen. Furthermore, for a given ionizing condition, the deuteration of the silicate residues is much lower than the deuteration measured on irradiated organic macromolecules. These results provide firm evidence of the limitations of ionizing irradiation as a driving mechanism for D-enrichment of silicate materials. The isotopic composition of the silicate dust cannot rise from a protosolar to a chondritic signature during solar irradiations. More importantly, these results imply that irradiation of the disk naturally induces a strong decoupling of the isotopic signatures of coexisting organics and silicates. This decoupling is consistent with the systematic difference observed between the heavy organic matter and the lighter water typically associated with minerals in the matrix of most carbonaceous chondrites.

¹N. G. Rudraswami, ¹M. Shyam Prasad, ^1,2S. Dey, ¹D. Fernandes, ³J. M. C. Plane, ³W. Feng, ⁴S. Taylor, ³J. D. Carrillo-Sánchez
The Astrophysical Journal,831 197 Link to Article [http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/831/2/197]
¹National Institute of Oceanography (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Dona Paula, Goa 403004, India
²Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand 247667, India
³School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
⁴Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755-1290, USA

Antarctica micrometeorites (~1200) and cosmic spherules (~5000) from deep sea sediments are studied using electron microscopy to identify Mg-rich olivine grains in order to determine the nature of the particle precursors. Mg-rich olivine (FeO < 5wt%) in micrometeorites suffers insignificant chemical modification during its history and is a well-preserved phase. We examine 420 forsterite grains enclosed in 162 micrometeorites of different types—unmelted, scoriaceous, and porphyritic—in this study. Forsterites in micrometeorites of different types are crystallized during their formation in solar nebula; their closest analogues are chondrule components of CV-type chondrites or volatile rich CM chondrites. The forsteritic olivines are suggested to have originated from a cluster of closely related carbonaceous asteroids that have Mg-rich olivines in the narrow range of CaO (0.1–0.3wt%), Al2O3 (0.0–0.3wt%), MnO (0.0–0.3wt%), and Cr2O3 (0.1–0.7wt%). Numerical simulations carried out with the Chemical Ablation Model (CABMOD) enable us to define the physical conditions of atmospheric entry that preserve the original compositions of the Mg-rich olivines in these particles. The chemical compositions of relict olivines affirm the role of heating at peak temperatures and the cooling rates of the micrometeorites. This modeling approach provides a foundation for understanding the ablation of the particles and the circumstances in which the relict grains tend to survive.

¹Y. Ricard, ²D. Bercovici, ¹F. Albarède
Icarus (in Press) Link to Article [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.12.020]
¹Université de Lyon, Ens de Lyon, CNRS, Université Lyon 1, Laboratoire de Sciences de la Terre, 15 parvis René Descartes, 69007, France
²Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut, 06520-8109, USA
Copyright Elsevier

Although the mass distribution of planetesimals during the early stages of planetary formation has been discussed in various studies, this is not the case for their temperature distribution. Mass and temperature distributions are closely linked, since the ability of planetesimals to dissipate the heat produced by both radioactive decay and impacts is related to their size and hence mass. Here, we propose a simple model of the evolution of the joint mass-temperature distribution through a formalism that encompasses the classic statistical approach of Wetherill (1990). We compute the statistical distribution of planetesimals by using simple rules for aggregation. Although melting temperatures can be easily reached, the formation of molten planetary embryos requires that they be formed in only a few 100 kyr. Our aggregation model, which even ignores fragmentation during collision, predicts that planetesimals with radii less than approximately 20 km will not melt during their formation.