Fe–Ni and Al–Mg isotope records in UOC chondrules: Plausible stellar source of 60Fe and other short-lived nuclides in the early Solar System

The short-lived now-extinct nuclide 60Fe, present in the early Solar System, is a unique product of stellar nucleosynthesis. Even though the first hint for its presence in the early Solar System was obtained more than two decades back, a robust value for Solar System initial (SSI) 60Fe/56Fe is yet to be established. A combined study of 26Al–26Mg and 60Fe–60Ni isotope systematics in chondrules from unequilibrated ordinary chondrites of low petrologic type, Semarkona (LL3.0), LEW 86134 (L3.0), and Y 791324 (L3.1), has been conducted to infer the value of SSI 60Fe/56Fe. Seven of the analysed chondrules host resolved radiogenic excess in both 60Ni and 26Mg resulting from in situ decay of the short-lived nuclides 60Fe and 26Al, respectively. The initial 26Al/27Al values for these chondrules range from (6.9 ± 5.8) × 10−6 to (3.01 ± 1.78) × 10−5 that suggest their formation between 2.1 and 0.6 Ma after CAIs. The initial 60Fe/56Fe at the time of formation of these chondrules ranges from (3.2 ± 1.3) × 10−7 to (1.12 ± 0.39) × 10−6 and show a good correlation with their initial 26Al/27Al values suggesting co-injection of the two short-lived nuclides, 60Fe and 26Al, into the protosolar cloud from the same stellar source. Considering 26Al as a reliable early Solar System chronometer, this data set yield a SSI 60Fe/56Fe value of (7.0 ± 1.2) × 10−7, if we adopt a half-life value of 2.6 Ma for 60Fe reported in a recent study. Model stellar nucleosynthesis yields suggest that both a high mass (5–6.5 M⊙) Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) star or a supernova (SN) could be the source of 60Fe and 26Al present in the early Solar System. A high mass (∼25 M⊙) SN appears more plausible because of the much higher probability of its close association with the protosolar molecular cloud than a high mass AGB star. Such a SN can also account for SSI abundance of 26Al and its correlated presence with 60Fe in chondrules.