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Nickel Isotopic Evidence for Late-Stage Accretion of Mercury-Like Differentiated Planetary Embryos
Authors
Guilin Han
Shichun Huang
+10 more
Weihan Li
Jingao Liu
Fang Zhen Teng
Shui Jiong Wang
Wenzhong Wang
Yujian Wang
Guangliang Wu
Hongjie Wu
Zhongqing Wu
Jian Ming Zhu
Publication date
12 January 2021
Publisher
Digital Scholarship@UNLV
Abstract
© 2021, The Author(s). Earth’s habitability is closely tied to its late-stage accretion, during which impactors delivered the majority of life-essential volatiles. However, the nature of these final building blocks remains poorly constrained. Nickel (Ni) can be a useful tracer in characterizing this accretion as most Ni in the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) comes from the late-stage impactors. Here, we apply Ni stable isotope analysis to a large number of meteorites and terrestrial rocks, and find that the BSE has a lighter Ni isotopic composition compared to chondrites. Using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, we show that core-mantle differentiation cannot produce the observed light Ni isotopic composition of the BSE. Rather, the sub-chondritic Ni isotopic signature was established during Earth’s late-stage accretion, probably through the Moon-forming giant impact. We propose that a highly reduced sulfide-rich, Mercury-like body, whose mantle is characterized by light Ni isotopic composition, collided with and merged into the proto-Earth during the Moon-forming giant impact, producing the sub-chondritic Ni isotopic signature of the BSE, while delivering sulfur and probably other volatiles to the Earth
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UCL Discovery
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Last time updated on 25/02/2021
University of Nevada, Las Vegas Repository
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