The short-lived 26 Al radionuclide is thought to have been admixed into the initially 26 Al-poor protosolar molecular cloud before or contemporaneously with its collapse. Bulk inner Solar System reservoirs record positively correlated variability in mass-independent 54 Cr and 26 Mg*, the decay product of 26 Al. This correlation is interpreted as reflecting progressive thermal processing of infalling 26 Al-rich molecular cloud material in the inner Solar System. The thermally unprocessed molecular cloud matter reflecting the nucleosynthetic makeup of the molecular cloud before the last addition of stellar-derived 26 Al has not been identified yet but may be preserved in planetesimals that accreted in the outer Solar System. We show that metal-rich carbonaceous chondrites and their components have a unique isotopic signature extending from an inner Solar System composition toward a 26 Mg*-depleted and 54 Cr-enriched component. This composition is consistent with that expected for thermally unprocessed primordial molecular cloud material before its pollution by stellar-derived 26 Al. The 26 Mg* and 54 Cr compositions of bulk metal-rich chondrites require significant amounts (25-50%) of primordial molecular cloud matter in their precursor material. Given that such high fractions of primordial molecular cloud material are expected to survive only in the outer Solar System, we infer that, similarly to cometary bodies, metal-rich carbonaceous chondrites are samples of planetesimals that accreted beyond the orbits of the gas giants. The lack of evidence for this material in other chondrite groups requires isolation from the outer Solar System, possibly by the opening of disk gaps from the early formation of gas giants. molecular cloud | outer Solar System | metal-rich chondrites | isotopes | chondrite accretion regions L ow-mass stars like our Sun form by the gravitational collapse of the densest parts of molecular clouds comprising stellarderived dust and gas. Collapsing clouds swiftly evolve into deeply embedded protostars that rapidly accrete material from their surrounding envelopes via a protoplanetary disk (1), in which planetesimals and planetary embryos form over timescales of several million years (2). Chondritic meteorites (chondrites) are fragments of early-formed planetesimals that avoided melting and differentiation and, therefore, provide a record of the earliest evolutionary stages of the Sun and its protoplanetary disk. Most chondrites contain calcium−aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) and chondrules, which formed by high-temperature processes that included evaporation, condensation, and melting during short-lived heating events (3). CAIs represent the oldest dated solids and, thus, define the age of the Solar System at 4,567.3 ± 0.16 Ma (4). It is inferred that CAIs formed near the proto-Sun during a brief time interval (<0

We report on the petrology, magnesium isotopes and mass-independent 54Cr/52Cr compositions (μ54Cr) of 42 chondrules from CV (Vigarano and NWA 3118) and CR (NWA 6043, NWA 801 and LAP 02342) chondrites. All sampled chondrules are classified as type IA or type IAB, have low 27Al/24Mg ratios (0.04–0.27) and display little or no evidence for secondary alteration processes. The CV and CR chondrules show variable 25Mg/24Mg and 26Mg/24Mg values corresponding to a range of mass-dependent fractionation of ~500 ppm (parts per million) per atomic mass unit. This mass-dependent Mg isotope fractionation is interpreted as reflecting Mg isotope heterogeneity of the chondrule precursors and not the result of secondary alteration or volatility-controlled processes during chondrule formation. The CV and CR chondrule populations studied here are characterized by systematic deficits in the mass-independent component of 26Mg (μ26Mg*) relative to the solar value defined by CI chondrites, which we interpret as reflecting formation from precursor material with a reduced initial abundance of 26Al compared to the canonical 26Al/27Al of ~5 × 10−5. Model initial 26Al/27Al values of CV and CR chondrules vary from (1.5 ± 4.0) × 10−6 to (2.2 ± 0.4) × 10−5. The CV chondrules display significant μ54Cr variability, defining a range of compositions that is comparable to that observed for inner Solar System primitive and differentiated meteorites. In contrast, CR chondrites are characterized by a narrower range of μ54Cr values restricted to compositions typically observed for bulk carbonaceous chondrites. Collectively, these observations suggest that the CV chondrules formed from precursors that originated in various regions of the protoplanetary disk and were then transported to the accretion region of the CV parent asteroid whereas CR chondrule predominantly formed from precursor with carbonaceous chondrite-like μ54Cr signatures. The observed μ54Cr variability in chondrules from CV and CR chondrites suggest that the matrix and chondrules did not necessarily formed from the same reservoir. The coupled μ26Mg* and μ54Cr systematics of CR chondrules establishes that these objects formed from a thermally unprocessed and 26Al-poor source reservoir distinct from most inner Solar System asteroids and planetary bodies, possibly located beyond the orbits of the gas giants. In contrast, a large fraction of the CV chondrules plot on the inner Solar System correlation line, indicating that these objects predominantly formed from thermally-processed, 26Al-bearing precursor material akin to that of inner Solar System solids, asteroids and planets.

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