Volatiles in the martian crust and mantle: Clues from the NWA 6162 shergottite

1,2,3Sen Hu,1,2,3Yangting Lin,1,2Jianchao Zhang,1,2Jialong Hao,4,5Akira Yamaguchi,1,2Ting Zhang,1,2Wei Yang,1,2Hitesh Changela
Earth and Planetary Science Letters (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.115902]
1Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
2Innovation Academy for Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
3College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
4National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan
5Department of Polar Science, School of Multidisciplinary Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Tokyo 190-8518, Japan
Copyright Elsevier

Martian meteorites of various petrogeneses retain a record of volatiles on Mars: from the hydrosphere, crustal water to the mantle. Sputtering of the martian atmosphere by solar wind after the loss of Mars’ magnetic field enriched it in deuterium, which exchanged with martian crustal water. Recent studies show that the hydrogen isotopic composition of the martian crustal water reservoir varies from 3000 to 7000‰ but requires better constraints. Melt inclusion glasses, maskelynite and fusion crust from the depleted olivine-phyric shergotite NWA 6162 were analyzed using NanoSIMS, providing a unique insight into the hydrogen isotopic and volatile elemental content of both the martian crustal water reservoir and the mantle source.

The H2O, S, and Cl contents of the melt inclusion glasses are ∼0-3137, 14-239, and 16-967 ppm, respectively. δD values vary from −560 to 6137‰. The water content positively correlates with the δD values in both the melt inclusion glasses and maskelynite in a two end-member mixing trend. One end-member is the magmatic water with a δD value of ∼0‰, and the other end member is the martian crustal water with δD ranging from 5000 to 6000‰. NWA 6162, a depleted olivine-phyric shergottite, originated from a different mantle source to the enriched lherzolitic shergottites. However, both types of shergottites exchanged with martian crustal water with the same δD values, indicating a homogeneous martian crustal water hydrogen isotopic composition (5000-6000‰). Most melt inclusion glasses from NWA 6162 have low water content (0-234 ppm) except for two enriched locations as micron-sized bands and dendrites. The low water content in most melt inclusion glasses, the dendritic shaped water enriched areas in melt inclusions, and the martian crustal water diffusion profile recorded in maskelynite collectively suggest short-lived water-rock interactions in the NWA 6162 parent rock that was probably induced by impact. Furthermore, a great contribution (up to 98%) of surface Cl accompanying D-enriched water was recorded in the melt inclusions supported by the positive correlation between Cl and H2O. The presence of sulfide and S-rich hot spots and low δD end-member of the magmatic water indicate that the degassing during post-entrapment crystallization and ascent of the melt inclusion is negligible. H2O, S, and Cl contents of the martian mantle reservoir are estimated to be 0.1-3, 0.5-15, and 0.5-4 ppm respectively, after the correction of fractional crystallization of the melt inclusions and contribution from the martian surface reservoir. The martian mantle reservoir estimated from NWA 6162 was water-, S-, and Cl-poorer than the Earth’s interior.

A Coordinated Microstructural and Isotopic Study of a Wark-Lovering Rim on a Vigarano CAI

1,2Jangmi Han,2Lindsay P.Keller,3Ming-Chang Liu,1,2Andrew W.Needham,3Andreas T.Hertwig,2 Scott Messenger,2Justin I.Simon
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2019.10.042]
1Lunar and Planetary Institute, USRA, 3600 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston, TX 77058, USA
2Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA
3Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Copyright Elsevier

We carried out a coordinated mineralogical and isotopic study of a Wark-Lovering (WL) rim on a Ca,Al-rich inclusion (CAI) from the reduced CV3 chondrite Vigarano. The outermost edge of the CAI mantle is mineralogically and texturally distinct compared to the underlying mantle that is composed of coarse, zoned melilite (Åk∼10-60) grains. The mantle edge contains fine-grained gehlenite with hibonite and rare grossite that likely formed by rapid crystallization from a melt enriched in Ca and Al. These gehlenite and hibonite layers are surrounded by successive layers of spinel, zoned melilite (Åk∼0-10), zoned diopside that grades outwards from Al,Ti-rich to Al,Ti-poor, and forsteritic olivine intergrown with diopside. These layered textures are indicative of sequential condensation of spinel, melilite, diopside, and forsterite onto hibonite. Anorthite occurs as a discontinuous layer that corrodes adjacent melilite and Al-diopside, and appears to have replaced them, probably even later than the forsterite layer formation. Based on these observations, we conclude that the WL rim formation was initiated by flash melting and extensive evaporation of the original inclusion edge, followed by subsequent gas-solid reactions under highly dynamic conditions.

All the WL rim minerals are 16O-rich (Δ17O = ∼−23‰), indicating their formation in an 16O-rich nebular reservoir. Our Al-Mg measurements of hibonite, spinel, and diopside from the WL rim, as well as spinel and Al,Ti-diopside in the core, define a single, well-correlated isochron with an inferred initial 26Al/27Al ratio of (4.94 ± 0.12) × 10−5. This indicates that the WL rim formed shortly after the host CAI. In contrast, the lack of 26Mg excesses in the WL rim anorthite suggest its later formation or later isotopic disturbance in the solar nebula, after 26Al had decayed.

Morphology and physico-chemical characteristics of an iron fragment from Chaco province

1,2Bucurica, I.A.,1,3Radulescu, C.,4Poinescu, A.A.,1,3,5Popescu, I.V.,1Nicolescu, C.M.,1Teodorescu, S.,3Bumbac, M.,6Pehoiu, G.,6Murarescu, O.
Romanian Journal of Physics 64, 906 Link to Article [http://www.nipne.ro/rjp/2019_64_7-8.html]
1Valahia University of Targoviste, Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Science and Technology, Targoviste, 130004, Romania
2University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics, Doctoral School of Physics, Bucharest, 050107, Romania
3Valahia University of Targoviste, Faculty of Sciences and Arts, Targoviste, 130004, Romania
4Valahia University of Targoviste, Faculty of Materials Engineering and Mechanics, Targoviste, 130004, Romania
5Academy of Romanian Scientists, Bucharest, 050094, Romania
6Valahia University of Targoviste, Faculty of Humanities, Targoviste, 130105, Romania

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Ferrovolcanism on metal worlds and the origin of pallasites

1Johnson, B.C.,2Sori, M.M.,3Evans, A.J.
Nature Astronomy (in Press) Link to Article [DOI: 10.1038/s41550-019-0885-x]
1Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States
2Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States
3Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States

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Timing and Origin of the Angrite Parent Body Inferred from Cr Isotopes

1Ke Zhu (朱柯),1,2Frédéric Moynier,3Daniel Wielandt,3Kirsten K. Larsen,4Jean-Alix Barrat,3Martin Bizzarro
The Astrophysical Journal Letters 877, L13 Link to Article [DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab2044]
1Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université de Paris, CNRS, 1 rue Jussieu, Paris F-75005, France
2Institut Universitaire de France, 103 boulevard Saint-Michel, Paris F-75005, France
3Centre for Star and Planet Formation and Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5–7, Copenhagen DK-1350, Denmark
4Laboratoire Géosciences Océan (UMR CNRS 6538), Université de Bretagne Occidentale et Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Place Nicolas Copernic, F-29280 Plouzané, France

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The Heavy-element Content Trend of Planets: A Tracer of Their Formation Sites

1Yasuhiro Hasegawa,2Bradley M. S. Hansen,1Gautam Vasisht
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 876, L32 Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab1b5a]
1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
2Mani L. Bhaumik Institute for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

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An interval of high salinity in ancient Gale crater lake on Mars

1W. Rapin,1,2B. L. Ehlmann,3G. Dromart,4J. Schieber,1N. H. Thomas,1W. W. Fischer,1V. K. Fox,1N. T. Stein,5M. Nachon,6B. C. Clark,7L. C. Kah,8L. Thompson,1H. A. Meyer,9T. S. J. Gabriel,9C. Hardgrove,10 N. Mangold,11F. Rivera-Hernandez,12R. C. Wiens,13A. R. Vasavada
Nature Geoscience 12, 889-895 Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0458-8]
1California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
2Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
3Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
4Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
5Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
6Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
7University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
8University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada
9School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
10Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique, UMR6112, CNRS,
Université Nantes, Université Angers, Nantes, France
11Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
12Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
13Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

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Rapid ocean acidification and protracted Earth system recovery followed the end-Cretaceous Chicxulub impact

1,2Michael J. Henehan,3,4Andy Ridgwell,1,5Ellen Thomas,1Shuang Zhang,6Laia Alegret,7Daniela N. Schmidt,8James W. B. Rae,9,10James D. Witts,9Neil H. Landman,11Sarah E. Greene,12Brian T. Huber,1James R. Super,1Noah J. Planavsky,1Pincelli M. Hull
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of teh United States of America (PNAS) (in Press) Link to to Article [https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1905989116]
1Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520;
2Section 3.3, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, 14473 Potsdam, Germany;
3School of Geographical Sciences, Bristol University, Bristol BS8 1SS, United Kingdom;
4Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521;
5Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459;
6Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragón, Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain;
7School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, United Kingdom;
8School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9AL, United Kingdom;
9Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024;
10Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131;
11School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom;
12Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560

Mass extinction at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary coincides with the Chicxulub bolide impact and also falls within the broader time frame of Deccan trap emplacement. Critically, though, empirical evidence as to how either of these factors could have driven observed extinction patterns and carbon cycle perturbations is still lacking. Here, using boron isotopes in foraminifera, we document a geologically rapid surface-ocean pH drop following the Chicxulub impact, supporting impact-induced ocean acidification as a mechanism for ecological collapse in the marine realm. Subsequently, surface water pH rebounded sharply with the extinction of marine calcifiers and the associated imbalance in the global carbon cycle. Our reconstructed water-column pH gradients, combined with Earth system modeling, indicate that a partial ∼50% reduction in global marine primary productivity is sufficient to explain observed marine carbon isotope patterns at the K-Pg, due to the underlying action of the solubility pump. While primary productivity recovered within a few tens of thousands of years, inefficiency in carbon export to the deep sea lasted much longer. This phased recovery scenario reconciles competing hypotheses previously put forward to explain the K-Pg carbon isotope records, and explains both spatially variable patterns of change in marine productivity across the event and a lack of extinction at the deep sea floor. In sum, we provide insights into the drivers of the last mass extinction, the recovery of marine carbon cycling in a postextinction world, and the way in which marine life imprints its isotopic signal onto the geological record.

Rapid condensation of the first Solar System solids

1Yves Marrocchi,1Johan Villeneuve,2Emmanuel Jacquet,1Maxime Piralla,3Marc Chaussidon
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) (in Press) Link to Article [DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912479116]
1Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques (CRPG), CNRS, Université de Lorraine, UMR 7358, 54501 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France;
2Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC), CNRS & Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, UMR 7590, 75005 Paris, France;
3Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université de Paris, CNRS, 75238 Paris, France

Chondritic meteorites are composed of primitive components formed during the evolution of the Solar protoplanetary disk. The oldest of these components formed by condensation, yet little is known about their formation mechanism because of secondary heating processes that erased their primordial signature. Amoeboid Olivine Aggregates (AOAs) have never been melted and underwent minimal thermal annealing, implying they might have retained the conditions under which they condensed. We performed a multiisotope (O, Si, Mg) characterization of AOAs to constrain the conditions under which they condensed and the information they bear on the structure and evolution of the Solar protoplanetary disk. High-precision silicon isotopic measurements of 7 AOAs from weakly metamorphosed carbonaceous chondrites show large, mass-dependent, light Si isotope enrichments (–9‰ < δ30Si < –1‰). Based on physical modeling of condensation within the protoplanetary disk, we attribute these isotopic compositions to the rapid condensation of AOAs over timescales of days to weeks. The same AOAs show slightly positive δ25Mg that suggest that Mg isotopic homogenization occurred during thermal annealing without affecting Si isotopes. Such short condensation times for AOAs are inconsistent with disk transport timescales, indicating that AOAs, and likely other high-temperature condensates, formed during brief localized high-temperature events.

 

A unified model for hydrogen in the Earth and Moon: No one expects the Theia contribution

1Steven J.Desch,2Katharine L.Robinson
Geochemistry (Chemie der Erde) (In Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemer.2019.125546]
1School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, PO Box 871404, Tempe AZ 85287, United States
2Lunar and Planetary Institute, 3600 Bay Area Blvd., Houston TX 77058, United States
Copyright Elsevier

The Moon is thought to have formed after a planetary embryo, known as Theia, collided with the proto-Earth 4.5 billion years ago. This so-called Giant Impact was the last major event during Earth’s accretion, and its effects on the composition of the Earth and the newly forming Moon would be measureable today. Recent work on lunar samples has revealed that the Moon’s water was not lost as a result of this giant impact. Instead, the Moon appears to contain multiple hydrogen reservoirs with diverse deuterium-to-hydrogen (D/H) ratios. For the first time, we incorporate hydrogen isotopic measurements of lunar samples to help constrain the composition of Theia. We show that the Moon incorporated very low-D/H (δD ≈ -750‰) materials that only could have derived from solar nebula H2 ingassed into the magma ocean of a large (∼0.4 ME) planetary embryo that was largely devoid of chondritic water. We infer Theia was a very large body comparable in size to the proto-Earth, and was composed almost entirely of enstatite chondrite-like material. These conclusions limit the type of impact to a “merger” model of similarly-sized bodies, or possibly a “hit-and-run” model, and they rule out models that mix isotopes too effectively.