| Abstract Scope |
Our solar system formed 4.567 billion years ago as a rotating disk of gas and dust. Early models of this solar nebula described a hot dynamic disk in which solid materials experienced evaporation and condensation. Chemical models employing equilibrium thermodynamics and thermochemical databases derived from experimental studies were used to quantify this condensing system. Such models predict a specific sequence of mineral phases to form, which has heretofore helped us understand how elements partitioned into solids from the gas phase, interpret the microstructures preserved inside of planetary materials, e.g., primitive meteorites, and became the building blocks for our planetary system. Using aberration-corrected electron microscopy, we have identified nanostructures at odds with established predictions, including variations in solute chemistry, solute segregation, and twinned structures. Combining density-functional theory with thermodynamic modeling, we can account for such perturbations and provide a novel means of quantifying the origins of planetary materials. |