Publication Date:
2022-10-26
Description:
© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Nielsen, S. G., Bekaert, D., V., Magna, T., Mezger, K., & Auro, M. The vanadium isotope composition of Mars: Implications for planetary differentiation in the early solar system. Geochemical Perspectives Letters, 15, (2020): 35-39, doi:10.7185/geochemlet.2032.
Description:
The V isotope composition of martian meteorites reveals that Bulk Silicate Mars (BSM) is characterised by δ51V = −1.026 ± 0.029 ‰ (2 s.e.) and is thus ∼0.06 ‰ heavier than chondrites and ∼0.17 ‰ lighter than Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE). Based on the invariant V isotope compositions of all chondrite groups, the heavier V isotope compositions of BSE and BSM relative to chondrites are unlikely to originate from mass independent isotope effects or evaporation/condensation processes in the early Solar System. These differences are best accounted for by mass dependent fractionation during core formation. Assuming that bulk Earth and Mars both have a chondritic V isotopic compostion, mass balance considerations reveal V isotope fractionation factors Δ51Vcore-mantle as substantial as −0.6 ‰ for both planets. This suggests that V isotope systematics in terrestrial and extraterrestrial rocks potentially constitutes a powerful new tracer of planetary differentiation processes accross the Solar System.
Description:
This work was funded by NASA Emerging Worlds grant NNX16AD36G to SGN. Samples were acquired with funds from the Helmholtz Association through the research alliance HA 203 “Planetary Evolution and Life” to KM. TM contributed through the Strategic Research Plan of the Czech Geological Survey (DKRVO/ČGS 2018-2022). KM acknowledges support through NCCR PlanetS supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. We thank Jurek Blusztajn for support in the WHOI Plasma Facility.
Keywords:
Planetary differentiation
;
Vanadium isotopes
;
Mars
;
Stable isotope fractionation
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
