Our Solar System formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the collapse of a dense core inside an interstellar molecular cloud. The subsequent formation of solid bodies took place rapidly. The period of &<10 million years over which planetesimals were assembled can be investigated through the study of meteorites. Although some planetesimals differentiated and formed metallic cores like the larger terrestrial planets, the parent bodies of undifferentiated chondritic meteorites experienced comparatively mild thermal metamorphism that was insufficient to separate metal from silicate. There is debate about the nature of the heat source as well as the structure and cooling history of the parent bodies. Here we report a study of 244Pu fission-track and 40Ar-39Ar thermochronologies of unshocked H chondrites, which are presumed to have a common, single, parent body. We show that, after fast accretion, an internal heating source (most probably 26Al decay) resulted in a layered parent body that cooled relatively undisturbed: rocks in the outer shells reached lower maximum metamorphic temperatures and cooled faster than the more recrystallized and chemically equilibrated rocks from the centre, which needed approximately 160 Myr to reach 390K.

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Abstract-Radiochronometry of L chondritic meteorites yields a rough age estimate for a major collision in the asteroid belt about 500 Myr ago. Fossil meteorites from Sweden indicate a highly increased influx of extraterrestrial matter in the Middle Ordovician ~480 Myr ago. An association with the L-chondrite parent body event was suggested, but a definite link is precluded by the lack of more precise radiometric ages. Suggested ages range between 450 ± 30 Myr and 520 ± 60 Myr, and can neither convincingly prove a single breakup event, nor constrain the delivery times of meteorites from the asteroid belt to Earth. Here we report the discovery of multiple 40 Ar- 39 Ar isochrons in shocked L chondrites, particularly the regolith breccia Ghubara, that allow the separation of radiogenic argon from multiple excess argon components. This approach, applied to several L chondrites, yields an improved age value that indicates a single asteroid breakup event at 470 ± 6 Myr, fully consistent with a refined age estimate of the Middle Ordovician meteorite shower at 467.3 ± 1.6 Myr (according to A Geologic Time Scale 2004). Our results link these fossil meteorites directly to the L-chondrite asteroid destruction, rapidly transferred from the asteroid belt. The increased terrestrial meteorite influx most likely involved larger projectiles that contributed to an increase in the terrestrial cratering rate, which implies severe environmental stress.

We report combined He-Ne-Ar isotope data of mantle-derived xenoliths and/or lavas from all segments of the East Africa Rift System (EARS between a single mantle plume source, common to the entire rift, and either a DMM or subcontinental lithospheric mantle source. Additionally, we show that the entire sample suite is characterized by low 3 He/ 22 Ne S ratios (mostly < 0.2)-a feature characteristic of oceanic hot spots such as Iceland. We propose that the origin of these unique noble gas signatures is the deeply rooted African Superplume which influences magmatism throughout eastern Africa. We argue that the Ethiopia and Kenya domes represent two different heads of this common mantle plume source.