Paolo A. Sossi¹, Anat Shahar²
Elements – Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.17.6.407]
¹ETH Zürich, Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, Zürich, CH-8092, Switzerland
²Carnegie Institution for Science, Earth and Planets Laboratory, Washington, DC, 20015-1305, USA
Copyright Elsevier

Evaporation of magma oceans exposed to space may have played a role in the chemical and isotopic compositions of rocky planets in our Solar System (e.g., Earth, Moon, Mars) and their protoplanetary antecedents. Chemical depletion of moderately volatile elements and the enrichment of these elements’ heavier isotopes in the Moon and Vesta relative to chondrites are clear examples. Evaporation is also thought to be an important process in some exoplanetary systems. Identification of evaporation signatures among the rock-forming elements could elucidate important reactions between melts and vapors during planet formation in general, but the process is more complicated than is often assumed.

Haolan Tang, Edward D. Young
Elements – Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.17.6.401]
University of California, Los Angeles Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, 595 Charles E. Young Dr. East, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
Copyright Elsevier

Evaporation of magma oceans exposed to space may have played a role in the chemical and isotopic compositions of rocky planets in our Solar System (e.g., Earth, Moon, Mars) and their protoplanetary antecedents. Chemical depletion of moderately volatile elements and the enrichment of these elements’ heavier isotopes in the Moon and Vesta relative to chondrites are clear examples. Evaporation is also thought to be an important process in some exoplanetary systems. Identification of evaporation signatures among the rock-forming elements could elucidate important reactions between melts and vapors during planet formation in general, but the process is more complicated than is often assumed.

Christoph Burkhardt
Elements – Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.17.6.395]
University of Münster, Institut für Planetologie, Wilhelm-Klemm-Straße 10, D-48149 Münster, Germany
Copyright Elsevier

The detection of exoplanets and accretion disks around newborn stars has spawned new ideas and models of how our Solar System formed and evolved. Meteorites as probes of geologic deep time can provide ground truth to these models. In particular, stable isotope anomalies in meteorites have recently emerged as key tracers of material flow in the early Solar System, allowing cosmochemists to establish a “planetary isotopic genealogy”. Although not complete, this concept has substantially advanced our understanding of Solar System evolution, from the collapse of the Sun’s parental molecular cloud to the accretion of the planets.