Short-lived nuclide systems in sulfides from enstatite chondrites

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Mario Trieloff
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2012 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 211676195

Enstatite chondrites are meteorites that originated under highly reducing conditions in the solar nebula. They contain different generations of a variety of sulfides, e.g. oldhamite, sphalerite, troilite, and niningerite. Based on thermodynamic models and petrological observations, some generations of oldhamite appear to be among the earliest solar nebula condensates. This circumstance, along with old absolute ages and the presence of short-lived nuclide decay products are the basic scientific motivation of our study. We suggest studying short-lived isotope systems 53Mn-53Cr, 60Fe-60Ni and 41Ca-41K by high precision SIMS analyses (using the CAMECA IMS 1280 HR applied for in the central SPP project) along with careful standard mineralogical and petrological, SEM and electron microprobe investigations of primarily oldhamite from primitive enstatite chondrites. K isotope analyses are particularly promising with the CAMECA 1280 HR, due to its high mass resolution. We expect new results allowing new insights into the history of the early solar system and the formation of enstatite chondrite parent bodies and their constituents.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1385: The first 10 Million Years of the Solar System - A Planetary Materials Approach
• International Connection: France
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Rainer Altherr; Professor Dr. Ahmed El Goresy (†); Dr. Smail Mostefaoui