Short-Lived Radionuclides in Meteorites: Constraints on Nebular Timescales for the Production of Solids |
| |
Authors: | Robert H Nichols Jr |
| |
Institution: | (1) Dept. Earth Planet. Sci., Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA |
| |
Abstract: | Variations in the abundances of short-lived radionuclides such as 26Al (τ1/2 ≈ 0.74 Ma) and 53Mn (τ1/2 ≈ 3.7 Ma) in meteoritic solids may be used to infer relative formation intervals of these solids in the nebula at precisions
of less than 1 Ma. In a strict chronometric interpretation of the isotopic variations, whereby criteria such as spatial and
temporal isotopic homogeneity and closed system isotopic evolution are met, solid formation occurred in the nebula for at
least several million years. This is longer than some theoretical and astronomical estimates for the duration of the active
nebula. The evidence for live 41Ca (τ1/2 ≈ 0.10 Ma) in meteoritic inclusions further indicates that the onset of solid formation occurred quite early, perhaps within
a few hundred thousand years after the onset of the collapse of the sun's parent molecular cloud. Failure of the chronometric
interpretation may arise for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to, the late, inhomogeneous injection of material
from a nearby stellar source or the local production of short-lived radionuclides by an energetic particle irradiation, e. g., from T Tauri (X-wind) or galactic cosmic ray sources. Although some isotopic evidence exists that the criteria required
for a strict chronometric interpretation are not met by each of the short-lived chronometers, there is no compelling reason
to shorten the interval of solid formation in the nebula to less than 1 Ma.
This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
| |
Keywords: | Meteorites: Radionuclides Sun: Nebula Solar System Chronometry |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|