Cosmogonic Implications of the HED-Vesta Connection

Details Cosmogonic Implications of the HED-Vesta Connection Cosmogonic Implications of the HED-Vesta Connection

Jan 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996eiaf.conf....6c&link_type=abstract

Workshop on Evolution of Igneous Asteroids: Focus on Vesta and the HED Meterorites, p. 6

Mathematics

Probability

Asteroids, Basalt, Meteorites, Olivine, Solar System, Vesta Asteroid, Spectral Reflectance, Iron

Scientific paper

The simplest model for the genesis of the HED meteorites involves a series of partial melting and crystallization events [1) of a small parent body whose bulk composition is more or less consistent with cosmic abundances but is depleted in the moderately volatile elements Na and K [2). The connection between the BED parent body and asteroid Vesta was first suggested on spectral reflectance grounds more than 25 years ago [3]; 20 years ago it was first noted that the predominance of surface basalts among the differentiated rocky meteorites, and the dearth of olivine meteorites or asteroids representing the parent body interior, argued that the HED parent body was still intact and thus Vesta was the only plausible candidate [4]. Though serious challenges remain, this is still a useful and powerful model. However, if this model is true, it raises several significant questions about our understanding of the origin and evolution of the solar system. Among them: (1) Why should both Vesta and the Moon be rich in oxidized Fe but depleted in Na and K? (2) How did Vesta melt? Why was it only partially molten? And why didn't other asteroids melt? (3) How did the HEDs get here from Vesta? (40 Why is Vesta unique? None of these questions are new. But taken together they suggest that Vesta may have experienced a unique history, shaped by one or more low probability events.

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