Calcium and titanium isotopes in refractory inclusions from CM, CO, and CR chondrites

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that CV and CM chondrites incorporated Ca, Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) with different isotopic characteristics, which may represent different snapshots in the isotopic evolution of the early Solar System. To better understand how the isotopic characteristics of CAIs vary between different chondrite groups, we have studied calcium and titanium isotopes in CAIs from CM, CO, and CR chondrites. We show that all three chondrite groups contain CAIs with large anomalies in 48Ca and/or 50Ti (10s of ‰ or 100s of ε-units) as well as CAIs with no anomalies resolved beyond measurement uncertainties.Isotopically, the anomalous CO and CR chondrite CAIs resemble the platy hibonite crystals (PLACs) from CM chondrites, but they are more mineralogically complex. The new data are consistent with the well-established mutual exclusivity relationship between incorporation of 26Al and the presence of large anomalies in 48Ca and 50Ti. The two highly anomalous CO chondrite CAIs have correlated anomalies in 46Ti and 50Ti, while most other highly anomalous CAIs do not. This result could indicate that the reservoir with coupled 46Ti and 50Ti that was sampled by bulk meteorites and CV chondrite CAIs already existed before arrival and/or homogeneous distribution of 26Al in the protoplanetary disk.Among the studied CM chondrite CAIs are ten spinel-hibonite inclusions (SHIBs) with known oxygen isotopic compositions. Our results show that these objects sampled a reservoir that was well-mixed in oxygen, calcium, and titanium isotopes. We further show that SHIBs tend to be slightly enriched in the heavy calcium isotopes, suggesting that their formation history was different from CV chondrite CAIs.