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Undercooling - This refers to a condition in which a process occurs at a lower temperature than expected for equilibrium, such as crystallization below the equilibrium temperature, as a result of rapid cooling. Chondrules were almost certainly undercooled.
Superheating - This refers to a condition in which a process occurs at a higher temperature than expected for equilibrium, such as melting above the equilibrium temperature, as a result of rapid heating. Chondrules may have been superheated.
Crystal nuclei - These are submicroscopic sites that serve as nucleation points for crystals. They may be very small bits of unmelted or forming crystals.
Porphyritic or microporphyritic texture -
This refers to an igneous texture in which larger crystals are embedded
in finer grained groundmass. Many chondrules have a microporphyritic
texture consisting of olivine or low-Ca pyroxenes embedded in a feldspathic
glass.
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Poikilitic texture - This refers to an igneous texture in which rounded crystals of one kind (e.g. olivine) are completed surrounded by another kind (e.g. pyroxene).
Relict grain - This is a grain
in a chondrule that did not crystallize in situ. They may be grains
that were not fully melted during the last episode of chondrule formation.
Most relict grains in chondrules are composed of olivine.
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Compound chondrule - This is a chondrule that consists
of multiple, attached portions. Some compound chondrules formed by
low-velocity collisions while the individual pieces were still warm.
The existence of such compound chondrules implies that chondrule-forming
regions of space contained a dense concentration of many molten droplets.
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Fractionation - This refers to any geochemical process that results in a changed composition. The context for fractionation used by Hewins refers to any process that results in a non-cosmic composition.
Condensation sequence - This
refers to the assemblage of minerals that are stable at different temperatures
in the solar nebula. These equilibrium assemblages are usually calculated
for systems of cosmic or solar composition at the low pressures (10^-3
to 10^-6 bars) deemed suitable for the solar nebula. We'll be saying
more about the condensation sequence later. According to Hewins,
likely precursor materials for chondrules included olivine and pyroxene
of various composition, Na-plagioclase (albite), troilite, and maybe C-compounds.
As the diagram below shows, these aren't high temperature condensates,
even though chondrules formed at high (~1550-1900 C or ~1820-2170 K) temperatures.
So what might this imply?
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Agglutinate - This is a glass-bonded aggregate of minerals and clasts formed by impact processes in a regolith. Agglutinates are a common consituent of the lunar regolith but are rare in chondrites, even those solar-wind-gas-rich chondrites thought to have formed in asteroidal regoliths.
FU Orionis event - This is an immense stellar outburst seen in a class of newly-formed or newly-forming star (T-Tauri star) caused by the accretion of gas and dust onto the surface of the star from a surrounding nebular protoplanetary disk. Astronomers record such outbursts as temporary brightness spikes (e.g., the brightness of the star, known as its luminosity, can increase by up to ~250 times).
T-Tauri star - This is a newly-formed star that is in the process of dissipating the disk of gas and dust surrounds it. T-Tauri stars are often characterized by strong stellar winds and rapid rotation.
Hewins' Table 2 - Hewins neglects to mention that the numbers in his Table 2 refer to values of oxygen fugacity in negative log units. Thus, 14.7 refers to log fO2 = -14.7, or fO2 = 1.995 x 10^-15. At the igneous temperatures appropriate for chondrule formation, this is about five orders of magnitude less than for Earth's atmosphere. Such low fO2 values are characteristic of a solar (hydrogen-rich) composition gas.
Iron-wustite buffer - In general, an oxygen "buffer"
is the equilibrium oxygen fugacity that is established by co-existing minerals.
The iron-wustite (IW) oxygen buffer contains co-existing wustite (the mineral
FeO) and metallic iron. If these two minerals co-exist in equilibrium,
they will determine the fugacity of oxygen gas that surrounds the minerals.