Undifferentiated Asteroids and Meteorites as Rosetta Stones to Study Protoplanetary Disks and Planetary Formation

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue deals with the studies of the components of undifferentiated meteorites from a multidisciplinary perspective, in order to increase interest in the observations and characterization of protoplanetary disks. Nowadays, the study of young accretionary disks is a hot topic in astrophysics, timely and relevant in the current scientific context, as recent radio astronomy progress has been achieved using large observing infrastructures, e.g.,  ALMA and SKA. New details on protoplanetary disks have been unveiled in terms of the structure and composition of these short-lived structures surrounding young stars. Comparing this new evidence with the clues that can be obtained from meteorites can provide significant progress in our understanding of the nature of the main planetary building blocks—pebbles, planetesimals, or both—and of the early stages of accretion, which play a key role in the formation of planets, from gas giants to terrestrial ones. In-depth multi-instrumental characterization of undifferentiated meteorites, particularly carbonaceous chondrites and materials from sample-return missions from undifferentiated asteroids, has allowed us to gain insight on the different classes of accretionary materials (carbonaceous vs non-carbonaceous) available in the Solar System’s protoplanetary disk. The primitive undifferentiated meteorites also provide unique clues on the composition of protoplanetary disks because they contain the earliest mineral components condensing from the solar nebula or accreting from the interstellar medium.

Then, the scope and purpose of the issue is finding relationships among these research disciplines, providing new interdisciplinary clues on planetary formation and increasing the peer-reviewed literature on these related topics. Our Special Issue will be open to receive manuscripts devoted to: 

(1) Early stages of stellar accretion: from YSOs to protoplanetary disks

(2) Components of chondritic meteorites: chondrules, refractory inclusions, pre-solar grains, etc.

(3) Origin and evolution of organic compounds in protoplanetary disks and interstellar media

(4) Role of hydrated and ammoniated materials in transporting astrobiologically important elements

(5) Physico-chemical models for growing dust in the earliest stages of planetesimal accretion

(6) Protoplanetary disks, their components and their evolution(s).

(7) Radioastronomy studies of the components of protoplanetary disks

(8) Planetary formation in young accretionary disks and compositional implications

(9) Chronological constraints from meteorites on planet formation in the Solar System  

References

A list of reference papers that are relevant for the SI topic from other authors/publishers, if necessary.

• Bernabò, L. M., Turrini, D., Testi, L., Marzari, F. & Polychroni, D. Dust Resurgence in Protoplanetary Disks Due to Planetesimal-Planet Interactions. Astrophys. J. Lett. 927, L22.
• Bryson, J. F. J. & Brennecka, G. A. Constraints on Chondrule Generation, Disk Dynamics, and Asteroid Accretion from the Compositions of Carbonaceous Meteorites. The Astrophysical Journal 912, (2021).
• Chizmadia L. J., Xu Y, Schwappach C. and Brearley A. J. (2008) Characterization of Micro-Sized Fe-Ni Metal Grains in Fine-Grained Rims in the Y-791198 CM2 Carbonaceous Chondrite. Meteoritics and Planetary Science  v.43  #9  p 1419-1438. 
• Chizmadia L. J. and Brearley A. J. (2008) TEM Characterization of the fine-grained rims in the CM2 carbonaceous chondrite Y-791198 and comparison to ALH81002. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta  v.72  #2  p 602-625.
• Connolly, H. C. Jr. et al. Carbon and the formation of reduced chondrules. Nature 371, 136–138 (1994)
• Lichtenberg, T., Schaefer, L. K., Nakajima, M. & Fischer, R. A. Geophysical Evolution During Rocky Planet Formation. in Protostars and Planets VII. eds. S. Inutsuka, Y. Aikawa, T. Muto, K. Tomida, and M. Tamura. 534, 907. (2023).
• Marrocchi, Y. et al. Chondrule Properties and Formation Conditions. Space Sci. Rev. 220, 69 (2024).
• Pape, J., Mezger, K., Bouvier, A.-S. & Baumgartner, L. P. Time and duration of chondrule formation: Constraints from Al-Mg ages of individual chondrules. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 244, 416 (2019)
• Polychroni, D. et al.. HD 163296 and its giant planets: Creation of exo-comets, interstellar objects and transport of volatile material. Astronomy and Astrophysics 697, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202453097 (2025).
• Raymond, S. & Izidoro, A. Origin of water in the inner Solar System: Planetesimals scattered inward during Jupiter and Saturn’s rapid gas accretion. Icarus 297, 134–148 (2017).
• Sirono, Si., Turrini, D. Chondrule formation by collisions of planetesimals containing volatiles triggered by Jupiter’s formation. Sci Rep 15, 30919 (2025).
• Stewart, S. T. et al. Planetesimal Impact Vapor Plumes and Nebular Shocks Form Chondritic Mixtures. Planet. Sci. J. 6, 108 (2025)
• Testi, L. et al. The protoplanetary disk population in the -Ophiuchi region L1688 and the time evolution of Class II YSOs. Astron. Astroph. 663, A98.
• Trigo-Rodríguez, J.M., Rimola, A., Tanbakouei, S., Cabedo Soto, V., & Lee, M. Accretion of Water in Carbonaceous Chondrites: Current Evidence and Implications for the Delivery of Water to Early Earth. Space Science Reviews, Volume 215, Issue 1, article id. 18, 27 pp. (2019)
• Turrini, D. & Svetsov, V. The formation of Jupiter, the Jovian early bombardment and the delivery of water to the asteroid Belt: the case of (4) Vesta. Life 4, 4–34 (2014).
• Williams, C. D. et al. Chondrules reveal large-scale outward transport of inner Solar System materials in the protoplanetary disk. PNAS 117, 23426-23435 (2020)
• Woitke, P. et al. Equilibrium chemistry down to 100 K Impact of silicates and phyllosilicates on the carbon to oxygen ratio. Astron. Astrophys. 614, A1 (2018)

Prof. Dr. Josep Maria Trigo-Rodríguez
Dr. Lysa J. Chizmadia
Dr. Diego Turrini
Dr. Danai Polychroni
Guest Editors

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• chondrites
• chondrules
• protoplanetary disks
• astrochemistry
• cosmochemistry
• planet formation
• planetary impacts