A shorter 146Sm half-life measured and implications for 146Sm-142Nd chronology in the solar system

The extinct p-process nuclide (146)Sm serves as an astrophysical and geochemical chronometer through measurements of isotopic anomalies of its α-decay daughter (142)Nd. Based on analyses of (146)Sm/(147)Sm α-activity and atom ratios, we determined the half-life of (146)Sm to be 68 ± 7 (1σ) million years, which is shorter than the currently used value of 103 ± 5 million years. This half-life value implies a higher initial (146)Sm abundance in the early solar system, ((146)Sm/(144)Sm)(0) = 0.0094 ± 0.0005 (2σ), than previously estimated. Terrestrial, lunar, and martian planetary silicate mantle differentiation events dated with (146)Sm-(142)Nd converge to a shorter time span and in general to earlier times, due to the combined effect of the new (146)Sm half-life and ((146)Sm/(144)Sm)(0) values.     

Superheavy elements: an early solar system upper limit for elements 107 to 110

The abundance of samarium-152 in the Santa Clara iron meteorite is found to be 108 x 10(7) atoms per gram. This quantity, if attributed to fission of a superheavy element with atomic number 107 to 109, limits the amount of superheavy elements in the early solar system to 1.7 x 10(-5) times the abundance of uranium-238. For element 110, the limit is 3.4 x 10(-5).     

Coupled 142Nd-143Nd isotopic evidence for Hadean mantle dynamics

The oldest rocks-3.85 billion years old-from southwest Greenland have coupled neodymium-142 excesses (from decay of now-extinct samarium-146; half-life, 103 million years) and neodymium-143 excesses (from decay of samarium-147; half-life, 106 billion years), relative to chondritic meteorites, that directly date the formation of chemically distinct silicate reservoirs in the first 30 million to 75 million years of Earth history. The differences in 142Nd signatures of coeval rocks from the two most extensive crustal relicts more than 3.6 billion years old, in Western Australia and southwest Greenland, reveal early-formed large-scale chemical heterogeneities in Earth's mantle that persisted for at least the first billion years of Earth history. Temporal variations in 142Nd signatures track the subsequent incomplete remixing of very-early-formed mantle chemical domains.     

Chondrite barium, neodymium, and samarium isotopic heterogeneity and early Earth differentiation

Isotopic variability in barium, neodymium, and samarium in carbonaceous chondrites reflects the distinct stellar nucleosynthetic contributions to the early solar system. We used 148Nd/144Nd to correct for the observed s-process deficiency, which produced a chondrite 146Sm-142Nd isochron consistent with previous estimates of the initial solar system abundance of 146Sm and a 142Nd/144Nd at average chondrite Sm/Nd ratio that is lower than that measured in terrestrial rocks by 21 +/- 3 parts per million. This result strengthens the conclusion that the deficiency in 142Nd in chondrites relative to terrestrial rocks reflects 146Sm decayand earlyplanetary differentiation processes.     

Isotopic composition of neodymium in waters from the drake passage

The isotopic composition of neodymium has been determined in seawaters from the Drake Passage. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which controls interocean mixing, flows through this passage. The parameter epsilon(Nd)(0) which is a function of the ratio of neodymium-143 to neodymium-144, is found to be uniform with depth at two stations with a value which is intermediate between the values for the Atlantic and the Pacific and indicates that the Antarctic Circumpolar current consists of about 70 percent Atlantic water. Cold bottom water from a site in the south central Pacific has the neodymium isotopic signature of the waters in the Drake Passage. By using a box model to describe the exchange of water between the Southern Ocean and the ocean basins to the north together with the isotopic results, an upper limit of approximately 33 million cubic meters per second is calculated for the rate of exchange between the Pacific and the Southern Ocean. Concentrations of samarium and neodymium were also determined and found to increase approximately linearly with depth. These results suggest that neodymium may be a valuable tracer in oceanography and may be useful in paleo-oceanographic studies.     

A 15N-poor isotopic composition for the solar system as shown by Genesis solar wind samples

The Genesis mission sampled solar wind ions to document the elemental and isotopic compositions of the Sun and, by inference, of the protosolar nebula. Nitrogen was a key target element because the extent and origin of its isotopic variations in solar system materials remain unknown. Isotopic analysis of a Genesis Solar Wind Concentrator target material shows that implanted solar wind nitrogen has a (15)N/(14)N ratio of 2.18 ± 0.02 × 10(-3) (that is, ≈40% poorer in (15)N relative to terrestrial atmosphere). The (15)N/(14)N ratio of the protosolar nebula was 2.27 ± 0.03 × 10(-3), which is the lowest (15)N/(14)N ratio known for solar system objects. This result demonstrates the extreme nitrogen isotopic heterogeneity of the nascent solar system and accounts for the (15)N-depleted components observed in solar system reservoirs.     

Samarium-neodymium systematics in kimberlites and in the minerals of garnet lherzolite inclusions

The initial ratios of neodymium-143 to neodymium-144 in kimberlites ranging in age between 90 x 10(6) to 1300 x 10(6) years from South Africa, India, and the United States are different from the corresponding ratios in the minerals of peridotite inclusions in the kimberlites but are identical to the ratios in the basaltic achondrite Juvinas at the times of emplacement of the respective kimberlite pipes. This correlation between the kimberlites and Juvinas, which represents the bulk chondritic earth in rare-earth elements, strongly indicates that the kimberlite's source in the mantle is chondritic in rare-earth elements and relatively primeval in composition.     

Extinct (129)I in halite from a primitive meteorite: evidence for evaporite formation in the early solar system

Halite crystals from the Zag H3-6 chondrite contain essentially pure (monoisotopic) xenon-129 ((129)Xe) produced in the early history of the solar system by the decay of short-lived iodine-129 ((129)I) (half-life = 15.7 million years). Correlated release of (129)Xe and (128)Xe, produced artificially from (127)I by neutron irradiation, corresponds to an initial ((129)I/(127)I) ratio of (1.35 +/- 0.05) x 10(-4), close to the most primitive early solar system value. If the (129)Xe was produced by in situ decay, then the halite formed from an aqueous fluid within 2 million years of the oldest known solar system minerals.     

Type II Supernova Matter in a Silicon Carbide Grain from the Murchison Meteorite

The circumstellar silicon carbide (SiC) grain X57 from the Murchison meteorite contains large amounts of radiogenic calcium-44 (20 times its solar system abundance) and has an anomalous silicon isotopic composition, different from other circumstellar SiC grains. Its inferred initial 44Ti/Si and 44Ti/48Ti ratios are 1.6 x 10(-4) and 0.37. In addition, it contains radiogenic magnesium-26; the inferred initial 26Al/27Al ratio is 0.11. The isotopic and elemental data of X57 can be explained by selective mixing of matter from different zones of a typical type II supernova of 25 solar masses during its explosion. The high 44Ti/Si ratio requires contributions from the innermost nickel zone of the supernova to the SiC condensation site, as similarly suggested by astronomical observations.     

Niobium-zirconium chronometry and early solar system development

Niobium-92 (92Nb) decays to zirconium-92 (92Zr) with a half-life of 36 million years and can be used to place constraints on the site of p-process nucleosynthesis and the timing of early solar system processes. Recent results have suggested that the initial 92Nb/93Nb of the solar system was high (>10(-3)). We report Nb-Zr internal isochrons for the ordinary chondrite Estacado (H6) and a clast of the mesosiderite Vaca Muerta, both of which define an initial 92Nb/93Nb ratio of approximately 10(-5). Therefore, the solar system appears to have started with a ratio of <3 x 10(-5), which implies that Earth's initial differentiation need not have been as protracted as recently suggested.     

Time differences in the formation of meteorites as determined from the ratio of lead-207 to lead-206

Measurements of the lead isotopic composition and the uranium, thorium, and lead concentrations in meteorites were made in order to obtain more precise radiometric ages of these members of the solar system. The newly determined value of the lead isotopic composition of Canyon Diablo troilite is as follows: (206)Pb/(204)Pb = 9.307, (207)Pb/(2O4)Pb = 10.294, and (208)Pb/(204)Pb = 29.476. The leads of Angra dos Reis, Sioux County, and Nuevo Laredo achondrites are very radiogenic, the (206)Pb/(204)Pb values are about 200, and the uranium-thorium-lead systems are nearly concordant. The ages of the meteorites as calculated from a single-stage (207)Pb/(206)Pb isochron based on the newly determined primordial lead value and the newly reported (235)U and (838)U decay constants, are 4.528 x 10(9) years for Sioux County and Nuevo Laredo and 4.555 x 10(9) years for Angra dos Reis. When calculated with the uranium decay constants used by Patterson, these ages are 4.593 x 10(9) years and 4.620 x 10(9) years, respectively, and are therefore 40 to 70 x 10(6) years older than the 4.55 x 10(9) years age Patterson reported. The age difference of 27 x 10(6) years between Angra dos Reis and the other two meteorites is compatible with the difference between the initial (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratio of Angra dos Reis and that of seven basaltic achondrites observed by Papanastassiou and Wasserburg. The time difference is also comparable to that determined by (129)1-(129)Xe chronology. The ages of ordinary chondrites (H5 and L6) range from 4.52 to 4.57 x 10(9) years, and, here too, time differences in the formation of the parent bodies or later metamorphic events are indicated. Carbonaceous chondrites(C2 and C3) appear to contain younger lead components.     

Precise timing of the last interglacial period from mass spectrometric determination of thorium-230 in corals

The development of mass spectrometric techniques for determination of (230)Th abundance has made it possible to reduce analytical errors in (238)U-(234)U-(230)Th dating of corals even with very small samples. Samples of 6 x 10(8) atoms of (230)Th can be measured to an accuracy of +/-3 percent (2sigma) and 3 x 10(10) atoms of (230)Th can be measured to an accuracy of +/-0.2 percent. The time range over which useful age data on corals can be obtained now ranges from about 50 to about 500,000 years. For young corals, this approach may be preferable to (14)C dating. The precision with which the age of a coral can now be determined should make it possible to critically test the Milankovitch hypothesis concerning Pleistocene climate fluctuations. Analyses of a number of corals that grew during the last interglacial period yield ages of 122,000 to 130,000 years. The ages coincide with, or slightly postdate, the summer solar insolation high at 65 degrees N latitude which occurred 128,000 years ago. This supports the idea that changes in Pleistocene climate can be the result of variations in the distribution of solar insolation caused by changes in the geometry of the earth's orbit and rotation axis.     

Stratospheric ozone with added water vapor: influence of high-altitude aircraft

Simple, steady-state models for ozone photochemistry, radiative heat balance, and eddy-diffusive mass transport can be combined to estimate water-induced changes in the stratospheric ozone concentrations and temperatures, the integrated ozone column, the solar power transmitted to the earth's surface, and the surface temperature. These changes have been computed parametrically for mixing fractions of water vapor between 3 x 10(-6) and 6.5 x 10(-6). With added water from the exhausts of projected fleets of stratospheric aircraft, the ozone column may diminish by 3.8 percent, the transmitted solar power increase by 0.07 percent, and the surface temperature rise by 0.04 degrees K in the Northern Hemisphere. Due to a cancellation of terms, temperatures in the lower stratosphere remain essentially unchanged. These results are sensitive to the form of the water profile and emphasize the potential role of convective transients near 30 kilometers.     

Uranium-thorium-lead isotope relations in lunar materials

The lead isotopic compositions and uranium, thorium, and lead concentrations have been measured on six samples of material from the Sea of Tranquillity. The leads are moderately to very radiogenic; the initial lead concentrations are very low; the uranium and thorium levels are 0.26 to 0.88 and 0.87 to 3.35 parts per million, respectively. The Th/U ratios cluster about a 3.6 value. Apparent ages calculated for four rocks are 4.1 to 4.2 x 10(9) years. Dust and breccia yield apparent ages of 4.60 to 4.63 x 10(9) years. The uranium-lead ages are concordant, or nearly so, in all cases. The lunar surface is an ancient region with an extended record of events in the early history of the solar system. discrepancy between the rock ages and dust ages poses a fundamental qusestion about rock genesis on the moon.     

Remnants of the early solar system water enriched in heavy oxygen isotopes

Oxygen isotopic composition of our solar system is believed to have resulted from mixing of two isotopically distinct nebular reservoirs, 16O-rich and (17,18)O-rich relative to Earth. The nature and composition of the (17,18)O-rich reservoir are poorly constrained. We report an in situ discovery of a chemically and isotopically unique material distributed ubiquitously in fine-grained matrix of a primitive carbonaceous chondrite Acfer 094. This material formed by oxidation of Fe,Ni-metal and sulfides by water either in the solar nebula or on a planetesimal. Oxygen isotopic composition of this material indicates that the water was highly enriched in 17O and 18O (delta(17,18)O(SMOW) = +180 per thousand per mil), providing the first evidence for an extremely (17,18)O-rich reservoir in the early solar system.     

Radioisotopes and the history of nucleosynthesis in the galaxy

Nearly all of the heavier elements seem to have been assembled by successive neutron captures occurring in two distinct processes: the s (slow) process refers to neutron capture at a rate which is slow compared to the intervening beta-decay; the r (rapid) process refers to neutron capture at a rate which is rapid compared to the beta process. It is becoming increasingly apparent that simple models for galactic r-process nucleosynthesis are inadequate. Modern astronomical observations, which indicate that the bulk of r-process synthesis may have occurred early in the life of the galaxy, cannot be ignored. Recent data on the fissiogenic xenon in whitlockite from the St. Severin meteorite also place stringent conditions on permissible models for element synthesis. It appears that neither sudden nor continuous models for element formation are consistent with isotopic data now available. I propose a more complex model for the synthesis of solar system material in which the r-process is allowed to occur in three distinct modes: a "prompt" synthesis early in the history of the galaxy, a "continuous" synthesis whereby r-process products are continuously added to the galactic mix, and a "last-minute" synthesis which enriches the solar nebula with r-process material shortly before the formation of the solar system. Calculations based on the present abundances of uranium-235, uranium-238, and thorium-232 and the measured abundances of iodine-129 and plutonium-244 present when meteorites began to retain xenon indicate that the galactic age is between 8.0 and 8.8 billion years, with the initial "prompt" synthesis accounting for 81 to 89 percent of the total r-process material ever produced, the "last-minute" synthesis contributing between 11 and 13 percent, and 0 to 8 percent occurring in the continuous mode. The time interval between the isolation of the solar nebula from galactic r-process and the onset of xenon retention in meteorites lies between 176 and 179 million years.     

Supra-canonical 26Al/27Al and the residence time of CAIs in the solar protoplanetary disk

The canonical initial 26Al/27Al ratio of 4.5 x 10(-5) has been a fiducial marker for the beginning of the solar system. Laser ablation and whole-rock multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma-source mass spectrometry magnesium isotope analyses of calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) from CV3 meteorites demonstrate that some CAIs had initial 26Al/27Al values at least 25% greater than canonical and that the canonical initial 26Al/27Al cannot mark the beginning of solar system formation. Using rates of Mg diffusion in minerals, we find that the canonical initial 26Al/27Al is instead the culmination of thousands of brief high-temperature events incurred by CAIs during a 10(5)-year residence time in the solar protoplanetary disk.     

Trace elements and radioactivity in lunar rocks: implications for meteorite infall, solar-wind flux, and formation conditions of moon

Lunar soil and type C breccias are enriched 3-to 100-fold in Ir, Au, Zn, Cd, Ag, Br, Bi, and Tl, relative to type A, B rocks. Smaller enrichments were found for Co, Cu, Ga, Pd, Rb, and Cs. The solar wind at present intensity can account for only 3 percent of this enrichment; an upper limit to the average proton flux during the last 4.5 x 109 years thus is 8 x 10(9) cm(-2) yr(-1). The remaining enrichment seems to be due to a 1.5 to 2 percent admixture of carbonaceous-chondritelike material, corresponding to an average influx rate of meteoritic and cometary matter of 2.9 x 10(-9) g cm(-2) yr(-1) at Tranquility Base. This is about one-quarter the terrestrial rate. Type A, B rocks are depleted 10-to 100-fold in Ag, Au, Zn, Cd, In, Tl, and Bi, relative to terrestrial basalts. This suggests loss by high-temperature volatilization, before or after accretion of the moon. Positron activities due mainly to (22)Na and (26)Al range from 90 to 220 beta(+) min(-1) kg(-1) in five small rocks or fragments (9 to 29 g). The higher activities presumably indicate surface locations. Th and U contents generally agree with those found by the preliminary examination team.     

In situ discovery of graphite with interstellar isotopic signatures in a chondrule-free clast in an L3 chondrite

Optical and scanning electron microscopy of a chondrule-free clast in the unequilibrated L3 chondrite Khohar revealed a spherical object consisting of an aggregate of small ( approximately 2- micrometer diameter), Ni-poor (0.5 to 2.89 weight percent) metal particles and fine-grained graphite (<1-micrometer diameter). The graphite has large D and 15N excesses (deltaD approximately 1500 per mil and delta15N approximately 1300 per mil) with two isotopically distinct signatures: N rich with a high D/H ratio and N poor with a high 15N/14N ratio. These excesses are the largest D and 15N excesses observed in situ in a well-characterized phase in a meteorite. The isotopic characteristics are suggestive of an interstellar origin, probably by ion-molecule reactions at low temperature in the interstellar molecular cloud from which the solar system formed. The structure and nonchondritic composition of the metal particles suggest they did not form under equilibrium conditions in the solar nebula.     

Trapped solar wind noble gases, kr81/kr exposure ages and k/ar ages in apollo 11 lunar material

Grain size and etching experiments show that the fine lunar material contains large amounts of trapped solar wind particles. Elemental and isotopic compositions of the noble gases in solar material and in the terrestrial atmosphere are significantly different, except for the Ar(36)/ Ar(38) and the Kr isotope ratios. Exposure ages of two rocks and of the fine material are between 380 and 510 x 10(6) years. Feldspar concentrates give K/Ar ages of 3220 and 3300 x 10(6) years, significantly higher than the unseparated rock.