¹Marc M. Hirschmann
¹Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, U.S.A.

Earth’s inventory of principle volatiles C, H, N, and S is a legacy of its early stages of accretion and differentiation. Elemental ratios (C/H, C/N, C/S) are powerful tools for understanding early processing of Earth’s volatiles, as they monitor relative fractionations through important processes even when absolute concentrations are less well defined. The C/H ratio of the bulk silicate Earth (BSE), defined from surface reservoirs and minimally degassed oceanic basalts is 1.3 ± 0.3, which is 5–15 times lower than the C/H ratio of carbonaceous and enstatite chondrites and 2–5 times lower than ordinary chondrites. The BSE C/N ratio is superchondritic (40 ± 8; Bergin et al. 2015) while the C/S ratio (0.49 ± 0.14) is nearly chondritic. Successful models of volatile acquisition and processing must account for the effects of accretion, core formation, and atmospheric loss on all three of these ratios.
Simple models of equilibration between a magma ocean, the overlying atmosphere, and alloy destined for the core are used to explore the influence of core formation and atmospheric loss on major volatile concentrations and ratios. Among major volatile elements, C is most siderophile, and consequently core formation leaves behind a non-metallic Earth with low C/H, C/N, and C/S ratios compared to originally accreted materials and compared to the BSE. Compared to the predicted effect of early differentiation, the relatively high C/X ratios of the BSE argue in part that significant volatile replenishment occurred after core formation ceased, possibly in the form of a late veneer. However, a late veneer with chondritic composition is insufficient to explain the pattern of major volatile enrichments and depletions because BSE C/H and C/N ratios are non-chondritic. The C/H ratio is best explained if an appreciable fraction of H in the BSE predates delivery in the late veneer. Although atmospheric blow-off is an attractive explanation for the high C/N ratio, available data for C and N solubility and metal/silicate partitioning suggest that atmospheric blow-off cannot counter core formation to produce subchondritic C/N. Thus, unless virtually all core-forming metal segregated prior to volatile accretion (or relative C and N solubilities are appreciably different from those assumed here), the BSE C/N ratio suggests that accreting materials had elevated ratios compared to carbonaceous chondrites. One possibility is that a fraction of Earth’s volatiles accreted from differentiated C-rich planetesimals similar to the ureilite parent body. Reconciling C/H, C/N, and C/S ratios of the BSE simultaneously presents a major challenge that almost certainly involves a combination of parent body processing, core formation, catastrophic atmospheric loss, and partial replenishment by a late veneer. The chondritic C/S ratio of the BSE and relatively low S content of the BSE constrains the BSE C concentration, but a potential complicating factor in interpreting the BSE C/S ratio is the possible effect of segregation of an S-rich matte to the core during the later parts of core-mantle differentiation.

Reference
Hischmann MM (2016) Constraints on the early delivery and fractionation of Earth’s major volatiles from C/H, C/N, and C/S ratios. American Mineralogist 101, 540-553
Link to Article [doi: 10.2138/am-2016-5452]
Copyright: The Mineralogical Society of America

^1,2Anna Losiak, ³Izabela Golebiowska, ⁴Ludovic Ferrière, ⁵Jacek Wojciechowski, ^2,6Matthew S. Huber,^2,4Christian Koeberl
¹Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, Poland
²Department of Lithospheric Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
³Cartography and Remote Sensing, Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Warszawa, Poland
⁴Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria
⁵Smart Information Systems GmbH, Vienna, Austria
⁶Department of Geology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Planar deformation features (PDFs) in quartz are the most important diagnostic features that allow the unambiguous identification of impact structures on Earth. In order to confirm that these features (that are characterized by planar character and form along specific crystallographic planes) are indeed PDFs, they need to be properly investigated and indexed. Following universal-stage measurements, the process of indexing is usually performed manually, using a Wulff stereonet and following a strict procedure, which is time consuming and error prone. In this article, we present WIP, a new Web-based program for indexing planar deformation features in quartz. The correctness of our program is shown by its application to measurements that had previously been indexed manually. The observed minor differences, especially in the absolute frequency percentage of PDFs, are negligible and not significant enough to influence the estimation of shock pressure that could be calculated from the indexed results. Usability of this program is shown using the spatial relationships between a statistically significant number of 278 quartz grains with 409 sets of PDFs analyzed within the area (~35 mm2) of a single thin section of a meta-greywacke from the Bosumtwi impact structure. Our program is not only more accurate and faster than the manual (graphical) method but also removes the human error from the plotting process and allows control of several parameters, such as the value of estimated measurement error used in the indexing calculation or method of aggregated error handling. The program also provides information about the angles between the planes of the measured PDF sets present in a grain, which allows determination of the angles between (for example) indexed {inline image} and {inline image} sets.

Reference
Losiak A, Golebiowska I, Ferrière L, Wojciechowski J, Huber MS, Koeberl C (2016)
WIP: A Web-based program for indexing planar features in quartz grains and its usage.
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press)
Link to Article [DOI: 10.1111/maps.12614]
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons