Hydrogen Isotopic Composition of Hydrous Minerals in Asteroid Ryugu

1Laurette Piani et al. (>10)
The Astrophysical Journal Letters 946, L43 Open Access Link to Article [DOI 10.3847/2041-8213/acc393]
1Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, CNRS—Université de Lorraine; F-54500 Nancy, France

Rock fragments of the Cb-type asteroid Ryugu returned to Earth by the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission share mineralogical, chemical, and isotopic properties with the Ivuna-type (CI) carbonaceous chondrites. Similar to CI chondrites, these fragments underwent extensive aqueous alteration and consist predominantly of hydrous minerals likely formed in the presence of liquid water on the Ryugu parent asteroid. Here we present an in situ analytical survey performed by secondary ion mass spectrometry from which we have estimated the D/H ratio of Ryugu’s hydrous minerals, D/HRyugu, to be [165 ± 19] × 10−6, which corresponds to δDRyugu = +59 ± 121‰ (2σ). The hydrous mineral D/HRyugu’s values for the two sampling sites on Ryugu are similar; they are also similar to the estimated D/H ratio of hydrous minerals in the CI chondrites Orgueil and Alais. This result reinforces a link between Ryugu and CI chondrites and an inference that Ryugu’s samples, which avoided terrestrial contamination, are our best proxy to estimate the composition of water at the origin of hydrous minerals in CI-like material. Based on this data and recent literature studies, the contribution of CI chondrites to the hydrogen of Earth’s surficial reservoirs is evaluated to be ∼3%. We conclude that the water responsible for the alteration of Ryugu’s rocks was derived from water ice precursors inherited from the interstellar medium; the ice partially re-equilibrated its hydrogen with the nebular H2 before being accreted on the Ryugu’s parent asteroid.

Distribution of s-, r-, and p-process Nuclides in the Early Solar System Inferred from Sr Isotope Anomalies in Meteorites

1,2Jonas M. Schneider,1,2Christoph Burkhardt,1,2 Thorsten Kleine
The Astrophysical Journal Letters 952, 1 Open Access Link to Article [DOI 10.3847/2041-8213/ace187]
1Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
2Institute for Planetology, University of Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Straße 10, D-48149 Münster, Germany

Nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies in meteorites allow distinguishing between the noncarbonaceous (NC) and carbonaceous (CC) meteorite reservoirs and show that correlated isotope anomalies exist in both reservoirs. It is debated, however, whether these anomalies reflect thermal processing of presolar dust in the disk or are primordial heterogeneities inherited from the solar system’s parental molecular cloud. Here, using new high-precision 84Sr isotope data, we show that NC meteorites, Mars, and the Earth and Moon are characterized by the same 84Sr isotopic composition. This 84Sr homogeneity of the inner solar system contrasts with the well-resolved and correlated isotope anomalies among NC meteorites observed for other elements, and most likely reflects correlated s- and (r, p)-process heterogeneities leading to 84Sr excesses and deficits of similar magnitude, which cancel each other out. For the same reason there is no clearly resolved 84Sr difference between NC and CC meteorites, because in some carbonaceous chondrites the characteristic 84Sr excess of the CC reservoir is counterbalanced by an 84Sr deficit resulting from s-process variations. Nevertheless, most carbonaceous chondrites exhibit 84Sr excesses, which reflect admixture of refractory inclusions and more pronounced s-process heterogeneities in these samples. Together, the correlated variation of s- and (r, p)-process nuclides revealed by the 84Sr data of this study refute an origin of these isotope anomalies solely by processing of presolar dust grains, but points to primordial mixing of isotopically distinct dust reservoirs as the dominant process producing the isotopic heterogeneity of the solar system.