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Paleomagnetic Evidence for a Partially Differentiated Ordinary Chondrite Parent Asteroid

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThe textures and accretion ages of chondrites have been used to argue that their parent asteroids never differentiated. Without a core, undifferentiated planetesimals could not have generated magnetic fields through dynamo activity, so chondrites are not expected to have experienced such fields. However, the magnetic remanence carried by the CV chondrites is consistent with dynamo‐generated fields, hinting that partially differentiated asteroids consisting of an unmelted crust atop a differentiated interior may exist. Here, we test this hypothesis by applying synchrotron X‐ray microscopy to metallic veins in the slowly cooled H6 chondrite Portales Valley. The magnetic remanence carried by nanostructures in these veins indicates that this meteorite recorded a magnetic field over a period of tens to hundreds of years at ∼100 Myr after solar system formation. These properties are inconsistent with external field sources such as the nebula, solar wind, or impacts, but are consistent with dynamo‐generated fields, indicating that the H chondrite parent body contained an advecting metallic core and was therefore partially differentiated. We calculate the thermal evolution of the chondritic portions of partially differentiated asteroids that form through incremental accretion across 10jats:sup5</jats:sup> to 10jats:sup6</jats:sup> years, finding this can agree with the measured ages and cooling rates of multiple H chondrites. We also predict that the cores of these bodies could have been partially liquid and feasibly generating a dynamo at 100 Myr after solar system formation. These observations contribute to a growing body of evidence supporting a spectrum of internal differentiation within some asteroids with primitive surfaces.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

meteorite paleomagnetism, ordinary Chondrite, asteroid differentiation, X-ray microscopy, cloudy zone

Journal Title

Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2169-9097
2169-9100

Volume Title

124

Publisher

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
NASA US Department of Energy