Oxygen isotope variation in stony-iron meteorites

Science. 2006 Sep 22;313(5794):1763-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1128865. Epub 2006 Aug 24.

Abstract

Asteroidal material, delivered to Earth as meteorites, preserves a record of the earliest stages of planetary formation. High-precision oxygen isotope analyses for the two major groups of stony-iron meteorites (main-group pallasites and mesosiderites) demonstrate that each group is from a distinct asteroidal source. Mesosiderites are isotopically identical to the howardite-eucrite-diogenite clan and, like them, are probably derived from the asteroid 4 Vesta. Main-group pallasites represent intermixed core-mantle material from a single disrupted asteroid and have no known equivalents among the basaltic meteorites. The stony-iron meteorites demonstrate that intense asteroidal deformation accompanied planetary accretion in the early Solar System.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Evolution, Planetary*
  • Meteoroids*
  • Minor Planets*
  • Oxygen Isotopes*

Substances

  • Oxygen Isotopes