Researchers from Nagoya City University, Tohoku University, and other institutions have used numerical simulations to replicate how a peculiar mineral texture called barred olivine forms inside chondrules—millimeter-sized spherical particles found in meteorites. These chondrules are considered time capsules from the early solar system, and barred olivine is a rare mineral texture not seen in Earth rocks.

The study is published in Science Advances.

Associate Professor Hitoshi Miura of Nagoya City University and the team were the first to reproduce this texture using numerical simulations and theoretically elucidate its formation process.