Contamination of the asteroid belt by primordial trans-Neptunian objects

Harold F. Levison (), William F. Bottke, Matthieu Gounelle, Alessandro Morbidelli, David Nesvorný and Kleomenis Tsiganis
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Harold F. Levison: Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300,
William F. Bottke: Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300,
Matthieu Gounelle: Laboratoire de Minéralogie et de Cosmochimie du Muséum, CNRS & Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle
Alessandro Morbidelli: Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Nice, Cedex 4, F-06304, France
David Nesvorný: Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300,
Kleomenis Tsiganis: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54006 Hellas, Greece

Nature, 2009, vol. 460, issue 7253, 364-366

Abstract: Diversity in the asteroid belt Most of the bodies in the main asteroid belt, roughly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, are assumed to have formed in situ from a primordial disk, yet the belt contains a surprising diversity of objects ranging from primitive ice/rock mixtures to igneous rocks. The traditional interpretation of this diversity has been that it represents chemical changes relating to the original condensation sequence in the protoplanetary disk, but a new series of simulations provides an alternative explanation. The violent dynamical evolution of the giant planet orbits required by the 'Nice' model for the dynamical evolution of the Solar System — a model developed in large part at the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur in Nice — is shown to lead to the insertion of primitive trans-Neptunian objects into the outer region of the main asteroid belt. These organic-rich latecomers from the outer reaches of the Solar System would have been more susceptible to collisional evolution than typical main-belt asteroids and a prolific source of micrometeorites, thereby explaining another long-standing mystery — the 'primitive' composition of micrometeorites as compared to macroscopic meteorites.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08094

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