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Isotopic evidence for the formation of the Moon in a canonical giant impact.

ABSTRACT: Isotopic measurements of lunar and terrestrial rocks have revealed that, unlike any other body in the solar system, the Moon is indistinguishable from the Earth for nearly every isotopic system. This observation, however, contradicts predictions by the standard model for the origin of the Moon, the canonical giant impact. Here we show that the vanadium isotopic composition of the Moon is offset from that of the bulk silicate Earth by 0.18 ± 0.04 parts per thousand towards the chondritic value. This offset most likely results from isotope fractionation on proto-Earth during the main stage of terrestrial core formation (pre-giant impact), followed by a canonical giant impact where ~80% of the Moon originates from the impactor of chondritic composition. Our data refute the possibility of post-giant impact equilibration between the Earth and Moon, and implies that the impactor and proto-Earth mainly accreted from a common isotopic reservoir in the inner solar system.

SUBMITTER: Nielsen SG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7985389 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Isotopic evidence for the formation of the Moon in a canonical giant impact.

Nielsen Sune G SG Bekaert David V DV Auro Maureen M

Nature communications 20210322 1

Isotopic measurements of lunar and terrestrial rocks have revealed that, unlike any other body in the solar system, the Moon is indistinguishable from the Earth for nearly every isotopic system. This observation, however, contradicts predictions by the standard model for the origin of the Moon, the canonical giant impact. Here we show that the vanadium isotopic composition of the Moon is offset from that of the bulk silicate Earth by 0.18 ± 0.04 parts per thousand towards the chondritic value. T ...[more]

PMID: 33753746

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Project description:Earth's core formation set the initial compositions of the core and mantle. Various aspects of core formation, such as the degree of metal-silicate equilibration, oxygen fugacity, and depth of equilibration, have significant consequences for the resulting compositions, yet are poorly constrained. The Hf-W isotopic system can provide unique constraints on these aspects relative to other geochemical or geophysical methods. Here we model the Hf-W isotopic evolution of the Earth, improving over previous studies by combining a large number of N-body simulations of planetary accretion with a core formation model that includes self-consistent evolution of oxygen fugacity and a partition coefficient of tungsten that evolves with changing pressure, temperature, composition, and oxygen fugacity. The effective average fraction of equilibrating metal is constrained to be k > 0.2 for a range of equilibrating silicate masses (for canonical accretion scenarios), and is likely <0.55 if the Moon formed later than 65 Ma. These values of k typically correspond to an effective equilibration depth of ~0.5-0.7× the evolving core-mantle boundary pressure as the planet grows. The average mass of equilibrating silicate was likely at least 3× the impactor's silicate mass. Equilibration temperature, initial fO2 initial differentiation time, semimajor axis, and planetary mass (above ~0.9 M⊕) have no systematic effect on the 182W anomaly, or on f Hf/W (except for fO2), when applying the constraint that the model must reproduce Earth's mantle W abundance. There are strong tradeoffs between the effects of k, equilibrating silicate mass, depth of equilibration, and timing of core formation, so the terrestrial Hf-W isotopic system should be interpreted with caution when used as a chronometer of Earth's core formation. Because of these strong tradeoffs, the Earth's tungsten anomaly can be reproduced for Moon-forming impact timescales spanning at least 10-175 Ma. Early Moon formation ages require a higher degree of metal-silicate equilibration to produce Earth's 182W anomaly.

Project description:Nucleosynthetic isotope variability among Solar System objects is often used to probe the genetic relationship between meteorite groups and the rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars), which, in turn, may provide insights into the building blocks of the Earth-Moon system. Using this approach, it has been inferred that no primitive meteorite matches the terrestrial composition and the protoplanetary disk material from which Earth and the Moon accreted is therefore largely unconstrained. This conclusion, however, is based on the assumption that the observed nucleosynthetic variability of inner-Solar-System objects predominantly reflects spatial heterogeneity. Here we use the isotopic composition of the refractory element calcium to show that the nucleosynthetic variability in the inner Solar System primarily reflects a rapid change in the mass-independent calcium isotope composition of protoplanetary disk solids associated with early mass accretion to the proto-Sun. We measure the mass-independent 48Ca/44Ca ratios of samples originating from the parent bodies of ureilite and angrite meteorites, as well as from Vesta, Mars and Earth, and find that they are positively correlated with the masses of their parent asteroids and planets, which are a proxy of their accretion timescales. This correlation implies a secular evolution of the bulk calcium isotope composition of the protoplanetary disk in the terrestrial planet-forming region. Individual chondrules from ordinary chondrites formed within one million years of the collapse of the proto-Sun reveal the full range of inner-Solar-System mass-independent 48Ca/44Ca ratios, indicating a rapid change in the composition of the material of the protoplanetary disk. We infer that this secular evolution reflects admixing of pristine outer-Solar-System material into the thermally processed inner protoplanetary disk associated with the accretion of mass to the proto-Sun. The identical calcium isotope composition of Earth and the Moon reported here is a prediction of our model if the Moon-forming impact involved protoplanets or precursors that completed their accretion near the end of the protoplanetary disk's lifetime.

Dataset Information

Isotopic evidence for the formation of the Moon in a canonical giant impact.

Publications

Isotopic evidence for the formation of the Moon in a canonical giant impact.

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