A new estimate of the chondrule cooling rate deduced from an analysis of compositional zoning of relict olivine
- Graduate School of Natural Sciences, Nagoya City University, Yamanohata 1, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 467-8501 (Japan)
Compositional zoning in chondrule phenocrysts records the crystallization environments in the early solar nebula. We modeled the growth of olivine phenocrysts from a silicate melt and proposed a new fractional crystallization model that provides a relation between the zoning profile and the cooling rate. In our model, we took elemental partitioning at a growing solid-liquid interface and time-dependent solute diffusion in the liquid into consideration. We assumed a local equilibrium condition, namely, that the compositions at the interface are equal to the equilibrium ones at a given temperature. We carried out numerical simulations of the fractional crystallization in one-dimensional planar geometry. The simulations revealed that under a constant cooling rate the growth velocity increases exponentially with time and a linear zoning profile forms in the solid as a result. We derived analytic formulae of the zoning profile, which reproduced the numerical results for wide ranges of crystallization conditions. The formulae provide a useful tool to estimate the cooling rate from the compositional zoning. Applying the formulae to low-FeO relict olivine grains in type II porphyritic chondrules observed by Wasson and Rubin, we estimate the cooling rate to be ∼200-2000 K s{sup –1}, which is greater than that expected from furnace-based experiments by orders of magnitude. Appropriate solar nebula environments for such rapid cooling conditions are discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 22340001
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 147, Issue 3; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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