Condensation and aggregation of solar corundum and corundum-hibonite grains

Abstract

Forty-three corundum grains (1-11 micrometers in size) and 5 corundum-hibonite grains with corundum overgrown by hibonite (4-7 micrometers in size), were found in the matrix of the mineralogically pristine, ungrouped carbonaceous chondrite Acfer 094 by using cathodoluminescence imaging. Some of the corundum and corundum-hibonite grains occur as aggregates of 2 to 6 grains having similar sizes. The oxygen isotopic compositions of some of the corundum-bearing grains suggest their solar nebula origin. 26Al-26Mg systematics of one corundum grain showed the canonical initial 26Al/27Al ratio, also suggesting a solar nebula origin. Quantitative evaluation of condensation and accretion processes made based on the homogeneous nucleation of corundum, diffusion-controlled hibonite formation, collisions of grains in the nebula, and critical velocity for sticking, indicates that, in contrast to the hibonite-bearing aggregates of corundum grains, the hibonite-free corundum aggregates could not have formed in the slowly cooling nebular region with solar composition. We suggest instead that such aggregates formed near the protosun, either in a region that stayed above the condensation temperature of hibonite for a long time or in a chemically fractionated, Ca-depleted region, and were subsequently physically removed from this hot region, e.g., by disk wind.