Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 21 May 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5418, pp. 1348 - 1350
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5418.1348
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

26Al in Eucrite Piplia Kalan: Plausible Heat Source and Formation Chronology

G. Srinivasan, * J. N. Goswami, N. Bhandari

Aluminum-magnesium isotopic analysis of plagioclase in the eucrite Piplia Kalan, with 27Al/24Mg ratio between 2000 to 7000, reveals the presence of excess magnesium-26 resulting from in situ decay of the short-lived nuclide aluminum-26. This observation confirms aluminum-26 as a plausible heat source for melting and differentiation of the eucrite parent body in particular and for planetesimals in general. The inferred initial abundance of 26Al/27Al of (7.5 ± 0.9) × 10-7 indicates that melting, differentiation, and crust formation in the parent body of Piplia Kalan was complete within 5 million years of the formation of the solar system.

Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: srini{at}prl.ernet.in

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
From the Cover: A unique basaltic micrometeorite expands the inventory of solar system planetary crusts.
M. Gounelle, M. Chaussidon, A. Morbidelli, J.-A. Barrat, C. Engrand, M. E. Zolensky, and K. D. McKeegan (2009)
PNAS 106, 6904-6909
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
An Overview of Isotopic Anomalies in Extraterrestrial Materials and Their Nucleosynthetic Heritage.
J. L. Birck (2004)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 55, 25-64
   Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)