¹R. J. Windmill, ¹I. A. Franchi, ¹X. Zhao, ¹R. C. Greenwood, ¹M. Anand
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Source Link to Article [DOI: 10.1111/maps.70210]
¹Planetary and Space Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

The light element distribution in planetary cores and the processes driving core evolution in rocky planets are poorly understood. Magmatic iron meteorites are samples from the cores of ancient embryonic planetesimals and therefore provide a window into the processes governing core evolution. We performed high precision oxygen isotope analyses on chromite from IIIAB iron meteorites to investigate the oxygen isotopic evolution across a protoplanetary core using laser-assisted fluorination. We identify three unexpected and hitherto unreported discrete isotopic subgroups within the IIIAB chemical group and discuss possible causes for their existence. The most likely explanation is that they may be sampling multiple parent bodies, either completely unrelated or mixed during an impact. This would have significant implications for the use of the chemical classification scheme for iron meteorites as well as models for IIIAB core evolution. Second, that they may be evidence that oxygen mobility across the core was controlled by diffusion. If this is the case, they may represent homogenized melt pools in a wider core context, recording oxygen diffusion into a planetary core, which could help explain the density deficit observed in Earth’s core. Third, we discuss whether core rain out through a heterogeneous IIIAB mantle and inefficient mixing in the core could explain the isotopic results. Finally, we compare these IIIAB oxygen isotopic signatures to published data for main group pallasite minerals and conclude that the meteorite groups cannot be from a common parent body, answering a long-standing question in meteoritical science.

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