Tungsten isotopic evidence for disproportional late accretion to the Earth and Moon.

ABSTRACT: Characterization of the hafnium-tungsten systematics ((182)Hf decaying to (182)W and emitting two electrons with a half-life of 8.9 million years) of the lunar mantle will enable better constraints on the timescale and processes involved in the currently accepted giant-impact theory for the formation and evolution of the Moon, and for testing the late-accretion hypothesis. Uniform, terrestrial-mantle-like W isotopic compositions have been reported among crystallization products of the lunar magma ocean. These observations were interpreted to reflect formation of the Moon and crystallization of the lunar magma ocean after (182)Hf was no longer extant-that is, more than about 60 million years after the Solar System formed. Here we present W isotope data for three lunar samples that are more

SUBMITTER: Touboul M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8347791 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature