Morphology and crystal structures of solar and presolar Al2O3 in unequilibrated ordinary chondrites

Abstract

Corundum, the thermodynamically stable phase of alumina (Al2O3), is one of the most refractory dust species to condense around evolved stars. Presolar alumina in primitive chondrites has survived various kinds of processing in circumstellar environments, the interstellar medium (ISM), the Sun’s parent molecular cloud, and the protosolar disk. The morphology and crystal structure of presolar alumina grains may reflect their formation and evolution processes, but the relative importance of these two types of processes is poorly understood. In this study, we performed detailed morphological observations of 185 alumina grains extracted from unequilibrated ordinary chondrites (Semarkona, Bishunpur, and RC075). We also performed electron back-scattered diffraction analyses of 122 grains and oxygen isotopic analyses of 107 grains. Dissolution experiments on corundum and transition alumina phases were carried out to examine the possibility of the alteration of surface structures of alumina grains by the chemical separation procedures of chondrites.The average size of the alumina grains was 1μm, and neither whiskers nor extremely flat grains were observed. About one-third of the grains had smooth surfaces, while ∼60% of the grains had rough surfaces with 10–100nm-sized fine structures. The rough-surface grains have varieties of morphology and crystallinity, suggesting that the rough surface structures are secondary in origin. Electron back-scattered diffraction patterns from 95% of alumina grains matched with α-Al2O3 (corundum), and more than 75% of the alumina grains are single crystals of corundum. Nine presolar alumina grains with anomalous oxygen isotopic compositions were found among 107 alumina grains, and most of them were characterized by rough surface structures. While most of the presolar alumina grains were corundum, the relative abundance of amorphous or low-crystallinity grains is higher in presolar alumina grains than in solar alumina grains. The dissolution experiments showed that all phases except for corundum dissolved during the acid treatments of chondrites. This suggests that smooth surface structures of corundum grains were originally formed in space, and that original surfaces of alumina that had been damaged by energetic particle irradiation in the ISM or the protosolar disk were lost during chemical separations to form the rough surface structures, and that amorphous or low-crystallinity alumina grains in chondrites have acid-resistant structures different from sol–gel-synthesized amorphous alumina. The present results also imply the possible presence of acid-soluble alumina phases, undiscovered by chemical separations, in chondrites.