Abstract
Long- and short-lived radioactive isotopes and their daughter products in meteorites are chronometers that can test models for Solar System formation1,2. Differentiated meteorites come from parent bodies that were once molten and separated into metal cores and silicate mantles. Mineral ages for these meteorites, however, are typically younger than age constraints for planetesimal differentiation3,4,5. Such young ages indicate that the energy required to melt their parent bodies could not have come from the most likely heat source6—radioactive decay of short-lived nuclides (26Al and 60Fe) injected from a nearby supernova—because these would have largely decayed by the time of melting. Here we report an age of 4.5662 ± 0.0001 billion years (based on Pb–Pb dating) for basaltic angrites, which is only 1 Myr younger than the currently accepted minimum age of the Solar System7 and corresponds to a time when 26Al and 60Fe decay could have triggered planetesimal melting. Small 26Mg excesses in bulk angrite samples confirm that 26Al decay contributed to the melting of their parent body. These results indicate that the accretion of differentiated planetesimals pre-dated that of undifferentiated planetesimals, and reveals the minimum Solar System age to be 4.5695 ± 0.0002 billion years.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Lissauer, J. J. Timescales for planetary accretion and the structure of the protoplanetary disc. Icarus 69, 249–265 (1987)
Wasserburg, G. J. Isotopic abundances: inferences on solar system and planetary evolution. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 86(The 1986 Crafoord Lectures), 129–173 (1987)
Yin, Q. et al. A short timescale for terrestrial planet formation from Hf–W chronometry of meteorites. Nature 418, 949–952 (2002)
Kleine, T., Mezger, K., Münker, C., Palme, H. & Bischoff, A. 182Hf-182W isotope systematics of chondrites, eucrites, and martian meteorites: Chronology of core formation and early mantle differentiation in Vesta and Mars. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 68, 2935–2946 (2004)
Lugmair, G. W. & Shukolyukov, A. Early solar system timescales according to 53Mn-53Cr systematics. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 62, 2863–2886 (1998)
Urey, H. C. The cosmic abundances of potassium, uranium, and thorium and the heat balances of the Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 41, 127–144 (1955)
Amelin, Y., Krot, A. N., Hutcheon, I. D. & Ulyanov, A. A. Lead isotopic ages of chondrules and calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions. Science 297, 1678–1683 (2002)
Mittlefehldt, D. W., Killgore, M. & Lee, M. T. Petrology and geochemistry of D'Orbigny and SAH99555, and the origin of angrites. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 37, 345–369 (2002)
Lugmair, G. W. & Galer, S. J. G. Age and isotopic relationships among the angrites Lewis Cliff 86010 and Angra dos Reis. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 1673–1694 (1992)
Jagoutz, E. et al. Cm?-U-Th-Pb isotopic evolution of the D'Orbigny angrite. 66th Annu. Meteorit. Soc. Meeting abstr. 5148 (2003).
Nyquist, L. E., Shih, C. Y., Wiesmann, H. & Mikouchi, T. Fossil 26Al and 53Mn in D'Orbigny and Sahara 99555 and the timescale for angrite magmatism. Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. XXXIV, abstr. 1388 (2003)
Bizzarro, M., Baker, J. A. & Haack, H. Mg isotope evidence for contemporaneous formation of chondrules and refractory inclusions. Nature 431, 275–278 (2004)
Young, E. D. et al. Supra-canonical 26Al/27Al and the residence time of CAIs in the solar protoplanetary disk. Science 308, 223–227 (2005)
Stirling, C. H., Halliday, A. N. & Porcelli, D. In search of live 247Cm in the early solar system. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 69, 1059–1071 (2005)
Glavin, D. P., Kubny, A., Jagoutz, E. & Lugmair, G. W. Mn-Cr isotope systematics of the D'Orbigny angrite. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 39, 693–700 (2004)
Kurat, G. et al. D'Orbigny: A non-igneous angritic achondrite? Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 68, 1901–1921 (2004)
Mittlefehldt, D. W. in Treatise of Geochemistry (ed. Davis, A. M.) Vol. 1,Ch. 11, 291–324 (Elsevier-Pergamon, Oxford, 2004)
Halliday, A. N. & Porcelli, D. In search of lost planets—the paleocosmochemistry of the inner solar system. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 192, 545–559 (2001)
Gilmour, J. D. & Saxton, J. M. A time-scale of formation of the first solids. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 359, 2037–2048 (2001)
Lugmair, G. W. & Shukolyukov, A. Early solar system events and timescales. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 36, 1017–1026 (2001)
Nyquist, L. et al. Manganese-chromium formation intervals for chondrules from the Bishunpur and Chainpur meteorites. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 36, 911–938 (2001)
Amelin, Y., Krot, A. & Twelker, E. Pb isotopic age of the CB chondrite Gujba, and the duration of the chondrule formation interval. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 68, abstr. E958 (2004)
Kita, N. T. et al. Constraints on the origin of chondrules and CAIs from short-lived and long-lived radionuclides. Workshop on Chondrites and Protoplanetary Disks abstr. 9064 (2004)
Kleine, T., Klaus, M., Herbert, P., Scherer, E. & Muenker, C. A new chronology for asteroid formation in the early solar system based on 182W systematics. Eos 85(47), Fall Meeting Suppl. abstr. P31C–04 (2004)
Baker, J., Peate, D., Waight, T. & Meyzen, C. Pb isotopic analysis of standards and samples using a 207Pb-204Pb double spike and thallium to correct for mass bias with a double-focusing MC-ICPMS. Chem. Geol. 211, 275–303 (2004)
LaTourrette, T. & Wasserburg, G. J. Mg diffusion in anorthite: implications for the formation of early solar system planetesimals. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 158, 91–108 (1998)
Tatsumoto, M., Knight, R. J. & Allègre, C. J. Time differences in the formation of meteorites as determined from the ratio of lead-207 to lead-206. Science 180, 1278–1283 (1973)
Acknowledgements
Financial support for this project was provided by the Danish Lithosphere Centre (funded by the Danish National Science Foundation). L. Labenne is thanked for his efforts in finding SAH99555 and providing our angrite samples. C. Stirling provided us with a pre-print of her U isotope study of meteorites. NASA supplied the Martian meteorite EETA79001. V. Fernandes provided us with lunar meteorite NWA032. Y. Amelin is thanked for his feedback on an earlier version of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
Reprints and permissions information is available at npg.nature.com/reprintsandpermissions. The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Methods
Description of analytical methods for Pb and Mg isotopic analysis. (DOC 32 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Baker, J., Bizzarro, M., Wittig, N. et al. Early planetesimal melting from an age of 4.5662 Gyr for differentiated meteorites. Nature 436, 1127–1131 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03882
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03882
