Hydrothermal convection in carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies

Numerical simulations of the thermal evolution of carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies indicate a period of several million years during which convective motion of water could occur. The present study considers variations of permeability, radiogenic heating, and body radius. The model accounts for the radial variation of gravity within the body, melting of ice, freezing of liquid water, and variable water properties and incorporates a realistic equation of state for water. Some regions of a parent body experience no pore water flow while other regions experience hundreds of pore volumes of liquid water flow. The spatial heterogeneity in pore water flow reflects the convective pattern in the body. Hydrothermal alteration of minerals inside the parent body will accordingly vary greatly with location in the body, and one parent body could be the source of chemically diverse meteorites.