[meteorite-list] Origin of chondrules

From: Mendy Ouzillou <ouzillou_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:06:43 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <1363140403.74283.YahooMailNeo_at_web126201.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>

And now for something completely different ... Meteorite talk.


I am in the process of reading through a fascinating article in latest issue of "Meteoritics and Planetary Science" called "The Origin of Chondrules and Chondrites: Debris from Low Velocity Impacts Between Molten Planetisimals."

This paper is very well written and readable even by a novice such as myself. What I find interesting is the proposal for a (somewhat) new theory that chondrules did not instantly form from clumps of heated nebular dust but instead formed 1.5 to 2.5MY after the formation of CAIs. the paper states that chondrules formed from splashing when two differentiated planetisimals collided at a relatively slow speed of between 10 to 100m/s. Without being able to review the previous papers, I have to say that to me this makes a great deal of sense and appears to solve many of the inconsistencies that have been raised in some of the older books that I have read.

Note: there is a typo in the paer on page 2177. Is states "A strength of the splashing model is that it can explain why chondrules are mostly between 1.5 and 2.5MYr younger than CAI ...". The sentence should read "older", no "younger".

Dr. Jeff Grossman, would love to hear your thoughts on this paper.

Mendy Ouzillou?
Received on Tue 12 Mar 2013 10:06:43 PM PDT