Blowing in the wind. II. Creation and redistribution of refractory inclusions in a turbulent protoplanetary nebula

Abstract

Ca–Al rich refractory mineral inclusions (CAIs) found at 1–6% mass fraction in primitive chondrites appear to be 1–3 million years older than the dominant (chondrule) components which were accreted into the same parent bodies. A prevalent concern is that it is difficult to retain CAIs for this long against gas-drag-induced radial drift into the Sun. We reassess the situation in terms of a hot inner (turbulent) nebula context for CAI formation, using analytical models of nebula evolution and particle diffusion. We show that outward radial diffusion in a weakly turbulent nebula can overcome inward drift, and prevent significant numbers of CAI-size particles from being lost into the Sun for times on the order of 10 6 years. CAIs can form early, when the inner nebula was hot, and persist in sufficient abundance to be incorporated into primitive planetesimals at a much later time. Small (≲0.1 mm diameter) CAIs persist for longer times than large (≳5 mm diameter) ones. To obtain a quantitative match to the observed volume fractions of CAIs in chondrites, another process must be allowed for: a substantial enhancement of the inner hot nebula in silicate-forming material, which we suggest was caused by rapid inward drift of meter-sized objects. This early in nebula history, the drifting rubble would have a carbon content probably an order of magnitude larger than even the most primitive (CI) carbonaceous chondrites. Abundant carbon in the evaporating material would help keep the nebula oxygen fugacity low, plausibly solar, as inferred for the formation environment of CAIs. The associated production of a larger than canonical amount of CO 2 might also play a role in mass-independent fractionation of oxygen isotopes, leaving the gas rich in 16O as inferred from CAIs and other high temperature condensates.