SPP 1385 - WP: Abundances and distribution of volatile trace elements in chondritic meteorites and their components

Basic data for this project

Description

Planets and asteroids of the inner solar system are depleted in volatile elements such as Na, K, Zn and Cd. The cause of this depletion is unconstrained. Incomplete condensation of volatile elements is widely thought to be responsible for the pervasive primary depletion, but alternative models such as depletion during chondrule formation or inheritance from the interstellar medium (ISM) have been proposed. The record of primary volatile element depletion is blurred by later volatile element redistribution processes that is evident, e.g., in Ca, Al rich inclusions (CAIs) or ordinary chondrites. The goal of this study is to constrain the processes that led to the depletion and redistribution of volatile elements in early solar system materials by the application of sophisticated analytical techniques to key samples: i) the first high-precision isotope dilution analyses of volatile elements in bulk chondrites and their components (chondrules, matrix, CAIs) and ii) the study of the microdistribution of volatile elements in chondrites by laser ablation ICP-MS.