Asteroidal source of L chondrite meteorites |
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| Authors: | David Nesvorný David Vokrouhlický Alessandro Morbidelli William F Bottke |
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| Institution: | aDepartment of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut St., Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302, USA;bInstitute of Astronomy, Charles University, V Holešovi?kách 2, CZ-18000, Prague 8, Czech Republic;cObservatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Boulevard de l'Observatoire, B.P. 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France |
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| Abstract: | Establishing connections between meteorites and their parent asteroids is an important goal of planetary science. Several links have been proposed in the past, including a spectroscopic match between basaltic meteorites and (4) Vesta, that are helping scientists understand the formation and evolution of the Solar System bodies. Here we show that the shocked L chondrite meteorites, which represent about two thirds of all L chondrite falls, may be fragments of a disrupted asteroid with orbital semimajor axis a=2.8 AU. This breakup left behind thousands of identified 1–15 km asteroid fragments known as the Gefion family. Fossil L chondrite meteorites and iridium enrichment found in an ≈467 Ma old marine limestone quarry in southern Sweden, and perhaps also ∼5 large terrestrial craters with corresponding radiometric ages, may be tracing the immediate aftermath of the family-forming collision when numerous Gefion fragments evolved into the Earth-crossing orbits by the 5:2 resonance with Jupiter. This work has major implications for our understanding of the source regions of ordinary chondrite meteorites because it implies that they can sample more distant asteroid material than was previously thought possible. |
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| Keywords: | Meteorites Asteroids Origin Solar System |
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