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Title: Evidence for Asteroid Scattering and Distal Solar System Solids From Meteorite Paleomagnetism

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Aix-Marseille Univ., Marseille (France)
  4. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Asteroid-sized bodies are predicted to have been scattered throughout the solar system following gravitational interactions with the giant planets. This process could have delivered water-rich small bodies to the inner solar system. However, evidence from the meteorite record supporting this scattering is limited due to difficulties in recovering the formation distance of meteorite parent bodies from laboratory measurements. Moreover, ancient millimeter-sized solids that formed in the inner solar system (calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions and chondrules) have also been proposed to have migrated throughout the solar system, which could have been key to their survival. Our understanding of the driving mechanisms, distances and timings involved in this motion is also restricted for the same reasons. Here, we address these limitations by recovering the formation distance of the parent asteroid of the Tagish Lake meteorite from measurements of its natural remanent magnetization. We find that this meteorite experienced an ancient field intensity <0.15 µT. Accounting for the average effect of a tilted parent body rotation axis and possible uncertainties associated with the remanence acquisition mechanism, this result argues that the Tagish Lake parent body formed at >8 - 13 AU, suggesting this body originates from the distal solar system. Tagish Lake came to Earth from the asteroid belt, which, combined with our recovered formation distance, suggests that some small bodies travelled large distances throughout the solar system. Moreover, Tagish Lake contains calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions and chondrules, indicating that these solids were capable of traveling to the distal solar system within just a few million years.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1631514
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-810943; 1017500; TRN: US2200974
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 892, Issue 2; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 13 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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