Comet 81P/Wild 2 dust impactors of Stardust turnip-like tracks analogous to cluster IDPs
Mingming Zhang, Noël Chaumard, Céline Defouilloy, William O. Nachlas, Donald E. Brownlee, David J. Joswiak, Andrew J. Westphal, Zack Gainsforth, Kouki Kitajima, Noriko T. Kita
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Available online 24 February 2024
“We measured oxygen isotope ratios of 16 silicate fragments from seven aerogel tracks (turnip-like type B tracks 77, 149, 172, 191, and 220; carrot-like type A tracks 22 and 175) of the comet 81P/Wild 2 collector from NASA’s Stardust mission using secondary ion mass spectrometry. Thirteen were prepared by ultramicrotomy; three from track 220 were prepared by sputtering resin blocks using a SIMS Kohler beam, a new procedure aiming to mine as many cometary particles encased in aerogel/resin as possible. Combining new and literature results, we recognized that most silicate fragments of individual type B tracks have diverse mineralogy but consistent mass-independent fractionation of oxygen isotopes (Δ17O = δ17O − 0.52 × δ18O) or display negative Δ17O–Mg# relationship like CR chondrules. These observations suggest that their impactors are loosely bound aggregates of unequilibrated materials originating mainly from similar protoplanetary disk regions, resembling the cluster IDP U2-20-GCA. Furthermore, silicate fragments from type A track 22 have almost identical mineralogy and Δ17O values, confirming that its impactor is a single chondrule-like fragment. The terminal particle of type A track 175 is pure forsterite with Δ17O of ∼–23‰.
Six iron-rich fragments of this study have positive oxygen isotope ratios (Δ17O∼+2‰) and ordinary chondrite chondrule-like olivine compositions. Together with five similar fragments in the literature, a unique population (Mg# ≤86) of Wild 2 fragments that resemble chondrules from the inner solar system (O-E-R) chondrites or the outer solar system CH-CB chondrites was identified. The remaining 16O-poor Wild 2 fragments are Mg# ≥79 silicates with Δ17O∼–2‰ and a small amount of Mg# ≤79 silicates with Δ17O∼0‰, which are most consistent with CR chondrite chondrules. Thus, we conclude that in addition to the possible major source of CR chondrite chondrule-like materials, the inner solar system or CH-CB chondrule-like materials are a minor component of comet Wild 2, like the cluster IDP U2-20-GCA.”
