Accretion and Early History of Planetesimals and Planets: The Noble Gas Record

Some of the distinct noble gas "components” in meteorites represent a record of processes during and even before solar system formation. This record is difficult to interpret. Often, one of the major problems is to recognize whether a certain noble gas elemental and isotopic pattern has been established in a presolar epoch, later in the solar accretion disk, during meteorite parent body formation or finally as a result of metamorphism on a parent body. It would also appear that noble gases are a preferred tool to deduce the types of matter from which the Earth and other planets accreted—if the respective parent materials are present in our extraterrestrial sample collections at all. However, also this issue is unsettled. Noble gas isotopes originating from the decay of radioactive precursors allow us to study the early and later degassing history of terrestrial planets, although the interpretation often remains model-dependent. This contribution briefly reviews some of the fundamental aspects of the noble gas record in meteorites and planet

A hit-and-run Giant Impact scenario

The formation of the Moon from the debris of a slow and grazing giant impact of a Mars-sized impactor on the proto-Earth (Cameron & Ward 1976, Canup & Asphaug 2001) is widely accepted today. We present an alternative scenario with a hit-and-run collision (Asphaug 2010) with a fractionally increased impact velocity and a steeper impact angle.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, in press in ICARUS note

The Galactic Cosmic Ray Intensity over the Past 106-109 Years as Recorded by Cosmogenic Nuclides in Meteorites and Terrestrial Samples

Concentrations of stable and radioactive nuclides produced by cosmic ray particles in meteorites allow us to track the long term average of the primary flux of galactic cosmic rays (GCR). During the past ∼10Ma, the average GCR flux remained constant over timescales of hundreds of thousands to millions of years, and, if corrected for known variations in solar modulation, also during the past several years to hundreds of years. Because the cosmic ray concentrations in meteorites represent integral signals, it is difficult to assess the limits of uncertainty of this statement, but they are larger than the often quoted analytical and model uncertainties of some 30%. Time series of concentrations of the radionuclide 10Be in terrestrial samples strengthen the conclusions drawn from meteorite studies, indicating that the GCR intensity on a ∼0.5 million year scale has remained constant within some ±10% during the past ∼10 million years. The very long-lived radioactive nuclide 40K allows to assess the GCR flux over about the past one billion years. The flux over the past few million years has been the same as the longer-term average in the past 0.5-1 billion years within a factor of ∼1.5. However, newer data do not confirm a long-held belief that the flux in the past few million years has been higher by some 30-50% than the very long term average. Neither does our analysis confirm a hypothesis that the iron meteorite data indicate a ∼150 million year periodicity in the cosmic ray flux, possibly related to variations in the long-term terrestrial climat

Cosmic-ray exposure ages of fossil micrometeorites from mid-Ordovician sediments at Lynna River, Russia

We measured the He and Ne concentrations of 50 individual extraterrestrial chromite grains recovered from mid-Ordovician (lower Darriwilian) sediments from the Lynna River section near St. Petersburg, Russia. High concentrations of solar wind-like He and Ne found in most grains indicate that they were delivered to Earth as micrometeoritic dust, while their abundance, stratigraphic position and major element composition indicate an origin related to the L chondrite parent body (LCPB) break-up event, 470 Ma ago. Compared to sediment-dispersed extraterrestrial chromite (SEC) grains extracted from coeval sediments at other localities, the grains from Lynna River are both highly concentrated and well preserved. As in previous work, in most grains from Lynna River, high concentrations of solar wind-derived He and Ne impede a clear quantification of cosmic-ray produced He and Ne. However, we have found several SEC grains poor in solar wind Ne, showing a resolvable contribution of cosmogenic 21Ne. This makes it possible, for the first time, to determine robust cosmic-ray exposure (CRE) ages in these fossil micrometeorites, on the order of a few hundred-thousand years. These ages are similar to the CRE ages measured in chromite grains from cm-sized fossil meteorites recovered from coeval sediments in Sweden. As the CRE ages are shorter than the orbital decay time of grains of this size by Poynting-Robertson drag, this suggests that the grains were delivered to Earth through direct injection into an orbital resonance. We demonstrate how CRE ages of fossil micrometeorites can be used, in principle, to determine sedimentation rates, and to correlate the sediments at Lynna River with the fossil meteorite-bearing sediment layers in Sweden.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

On the origin and composition of Theia: Constraints from new models of the Giant Impact

Knowing the isotopic composition of Theia, the proto-planet which collided with the Earth in the Giant Impact that formed the Moon, could provide interesting insights on the state of homogenization of the inner solar system at the late stages of terrestrial planet formation. We use the known isotopic and modeled chemical compositions of the bulk silicate mantles of Earth and Moon and combine them with different Giant Impact models, to calculate the possible ranges of isotopic composition of Theia in O, Si, Ti, Cr, Zr and W in each model. We compare these ranges to the isotopic composition of carbonaceous chondrites, Mars, and other solar system materials. In the absence of post-impact isotopic re-equilibration, the recently proposed high angular momentum models of the Giant Impact ("impact-fission", Cuk & Stewart, 2012; and "merger", Canup, 2012) allow - by a narrow margin - for a Theia similar to CI-chondrites, and Mars. The "hit-and-run" model (Reufer et al., 2012) allows for a Theia similar to enstatite-chondrites and other Earth-like materials. If the Earth and Moon inherited their different mantle FeO contents from the bulk mantles of the proto-Earth and Theia, the high angular momentum models cannot explain the observed difference. However, both the hit-and-run as well as the classical or "canonical" Giant Impact model naturally explain this difference as the consequence of a simple mixture of two mantles with different FeO. Therefore, the simplest way to reconcile the isotopic similarity, and FeO dissimilarity, of Earth and Moon is a Theia with an Earth-like isotopic composition and a higher (~20%) mantle FeO content.Comment: 53 Pages, 10 Figures, 1 Table, 3 Supplementary Table

Production rates for cosmogenic krypton and argon isotopes in H-chondrites with known ^<36>Cl-^<36>Ar ages

We present physical model calculations for the production of cosmogenic Kr isotopes in stony meteorites and compare the model results with measured data for bulk samples of 12 H-chondrites which recently had been investigated for their ^Cl-^Ar cosmic-ray exposure ages and light noble gas production rates. The correlation between P(^Kr)P(^Kr) and P(^Kr)P(^Kr) modelled here is significantly different from the classical relation commonly used to derive ^Kr-Kr exposure ages. For both relations, the ^Kr ages scatter considerably around the respective ^Cl-^Ar ages, but the new relation on average yields a somewhat better agreement between ^Kr-Kr and ^Cl-^Ar ages. The calculations combined with concentration measurements of the main target elements for the production of cosmogenic Kr (Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, and Nb) show that target element chemistry does hardly influence the isotopic composition of cosmogenic Kr in bulk chondrites. These calculations also confirm earlier conclusions that the isotopic systematics of cosmogenic Kr in lunar samples are applicable for chondrites too. We derived an average ^Ar production rate at average shielding (^Ne^Ne=1.11) of (0.0431±0.0035)×10^ cm^3 STP(g×Myr)

Terrestrial ages and exposure ages of Antarctic H-chondrites from Frontier Mountain, North Victoria Land

We measured the isotopic compositions and concentrations of He, Ne and Ar as well as the concentrations of cosmogenic ^Be, ^Al and ^Cl in 26 H-chondrites and 1 L-chondrite from a meteorite stranding area near the Frontier Mountain Range, East Antarctica. Based on the radionuclide concentrations and the noble gas signatures we conclude the 26 H-chondrite samples represent at least 13 different falls. The exposure ages of most H-chondrites are in the range of 4-10 million years (My). This age range encompasses the well-established exposure age peak at &acd;7 My and an additional feature at &acd;4 My. We determined the terrestrial ages on the basis of the ^Cl concentration as well as using the relation between the ^Cl/^Be ratio and the ^Be concentration. This relation also corrects for shielding effects and reduces the uncertainty in the age by &acd;25% compared to simple ^Cl terrestrial ages. About 40% of the meteorites are older than 100 thousand years (ky), but none are older than 200ky. The relatively short terrestrial ages suggest that Frontier Mountain is a young meteorite stranding area. This seems to be supported by the bedrock exposure history, which shows a recent surface exposure&le;70ky

Noble gas elemental abundances in three solar wind regimes as recorded by the Genesis mission

We discuss elemental abundances of noble gases in targets exposed to the solar wind (SW) onboard the “Genesis” mission during the three different SW “regimes”: “Slow” (interstream, IS) wind, “Fast” (coronal hole, CH) wind and solar wind related to coronal mass ejections (CME). To this end we first present new Ar, Kr, and Xe elemental abundance data in Si targets sampling the different regimes. We also discuss He, Ne, and Ar elemental and isotopic abundances obtained on Genesis regime targets partly published previously. Average Kr/Ar ratios for all three regimes are identical to each other within their uncertainties of about 1% with one exception: the Fast SW has a 12% lower Xe/Ar ratio than do the other two regimes. In contrast, the He/Ar and Ne/Ar ratios in the CME targets are higher by more than 20% and 10%, respectively, than the corresponding Fast and Slow SW values, which among themselves vary by no more than 2–4%. Earlier observations on lunar samples and Genesis targets sampling bulk SW wind had shown that Xe, with a first ionisation potential (FIP) of ∼12 eV, is enriched by about a factor of two in the bulk solar wind over Ar and Kr compared to photospheric abundances, similar to many “low FIP” elements with a FIP less than ∼10 eV. This behaviour of the “high FIP” element Xe was not easily explained, also because it has a Coulomb drag factor suggesting a relatively inefficient feeding into the SW acceleration region and hence a depletion relative to other high FIP elements such as Kr and Ar. The about 12% lower enrichment of Xe in Genesis’ Fast SW regime observed here is, however, in line with the hypothesis that the depletion of Xe in the SW due to the Coulomb drag effect is overcompensated as a result of the relatively short ionisation time of Xe in the ion-neutral separation region in the solar chromosphere. We will also discuss the rather surprising fact that He and Ne in CME targets are quite substantially enriched (by 20% and 10%, respectively) relative to the other solar wind regimes, but that this enrichment is not accompanied by an isotopic fractionation. The Ne isotopic data in CMEs are consistent with a previous hypothesis that isotopic fractionation in the solar wind is mass-dependent

A comprehensive study of noble gases and nitrogen in Hypatia, a diamond-rich pebble from SW Egypt

This is a follow-up study of a work by Kramers et al. (2013) on an unusual diamond-rich rock found in the SW side of the Libyan Desert Glass strewn field. This pebble, called Hypatia, is composed of almost pure carbon. Transmission Electron Microscopy and X-ray diffraction results reveal that Hypatia is made of defect-rich diamond containing lonsdaleite and deformation bands. These characteristics are compatible with an impact origin on Earth and/or in space. We analyzed concentrations and isotopic compositions of all five noble gases and nitrogen in several mg sized Hypatia samples. These data confirm that Hypatia is extra-terrestrial. The sample is rich in trapped noble gases with an isotopic composition close to the meteoritic Q component. 40Ar/36Ar ratios in individual steps are as low as 0.4. Concentrations of cosmic-ray produced 21Ne correspond to a nominal cosmic-ray exposure age of ca. 0.1 Myr if produced in a typical m-sized meteoroid. Such an atypically low nominal exposure age suggests high shielding in a considerably larger body. In addition to the Xe-Q composition, an excess of radiogenic 129Xe (from the decay of extinct 129I) is observed (129Xe/132Xe = 1.18 +/- 0.03). Two N components are present, an isotopically heavy component ({\delta}15N = +20 permil) released at low temp. and a major light component ({\delta}15N = -110 permil) at higher temp. This disequilibrium in N suggests that the diamonds in Hypatia were formed in space. Our data are broadly consistent with concentrations and isotopic compositions of noble gases in at least three different types of carbon-rich meteoritic materials. However, Hypatia does not seem to be related to any of these materials, but may have sampled a similar cosmochemical reservoir. Our study does not confirm the presence of exotic noble gases that led Kramers et al. to propose that Hypatia is a remnant of a comet that impacted the Earth