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Updated: Mar 17, 2026

Scattering And Absorption of Light in Planetary Regoliths
Published on: July 1, 2019
Early scattering of the solar protoplanetary disk recorded in meteoritic chondrules
Yves Marrocchi1, Marc Chaussidon2, Laurette Piani3
1Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, CNRS, Université de Lorraine, UMR 7358, 54501 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
Abstract:
Meteoritic chondrules are submillimeter spherules representing the major constituent of nondifferentiated planetesimals formed in the solar protoplanetary disk. The link between the dynamics of the disk and the origin of chondrules remains enigmatic. Collisions between planetesimals formed at different heliocentric distances were frequent early in the evolution of the disk. We show that the presence, in some chondrules, of previously unrecognized magnetites of magmatic origin implies the formation of these chondrules under impact-generated oxidizing conditions. The three oxygen isotopes systematic of magmatic magnetites and silicates can only be explained by invoking an impact between silicate-rich and ice-rich planetesimals. This suggests that these peculiar chondrules are by-products of the early mixing in the disk of populations of planetesimals from the inner and outer solar system.
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