Early aqueous activity on the ordinary and carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies recorded by fayalite

Chronology of aqueous activity on chondrite parent bodies constrains their accretion times and thermal histories. Radiometric 53Mn–53Cr dating has been successfully applied to aqueously formed carbonates in CM carbonaceous chondrites. Owing to the absence of carbonates in ordinary (H, L and LL), and CV and CO carbonaceous chondrites, and the lack of proper standards, there are no reliable ages of aqueous activity on their parent bodies. Here we report the first 53Mn–53Cr ages of aqueously formed fayalite in the L3 chondrite Elephant Moraine 90161 as Myr after calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs), the oldest Solar System solids. In addition, measurements using our synthesized fayalite standard show that fayalite in the CV3 chondrite Asuka 881317 and CO3-like chondrite MacAlpine Hills 88107 formed and Myr after CAIs, respectively. Thermal modelling, combined with the inferred conditions (temperature and water/rock ratio) and 53Mn–53Cr ages of aqueous alteration, suggests accretion of the L, CV and CO parent bodies ∼1.8−2.5 Myr after CAIs. The parent bodies of many chondritic meteorites experienced aqueous alteration, the chronology of which helps constrain their histories. Here, the authors synthesize a fayalite standard and report reliable ages of secondary fayalite, from which model accretion ages are determined and the place of accretion is inferred.