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Coupled 182W-142Nd constraint for early Earth differentiation.

ABSTRACT: Recent high precision (142)Nd isotope measurements showed that global silicate differentiation may have occurred as early as 30-75 Myr after the Solar System formation [Bennett V, et al. (2007) Science 318:1907-1910]. This time scale is almost contemporaneous with Earth's core formation at approximately 30 Myr [Yin Q, et al. (2002) Nature 418:949-952]. The (182)Hf-(182)W system provides a powerful complement to the (142)Nd results for early silicate differentiation, because both core formation and silicate differentiation fractionate Hf from W. Here we show that eleven terrestrial samples from diverse tectonic settings, including five early Archean samples from Isua, Greenland, of which three have been previously shown with (142)Nd anomalies, all have a homogeneous W isotopic composition, which is approximately 2epsilon-unit more radiogenic than the chondritic value. By using a 3-stage model calculation that describes the isotopic evolution in chondritic reservoir and core segregation, as well as silicate differentiation, we show that the W isotopic composition of terrestrial samples provides the most stringent time constraint for early core formation (27.5-38 Myr) followed by early terrestrial silicate differentiation (38-75 Myr) that is consistent with the terrestrial (142)Nd anomalies.

SUBMITTER: Moynier F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2890712 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Coupled 182W-142Nd constraint for early Earth differentiation.

Moynier Frederic F Yin Qing-Zhu QZ Irisawa Keita K Boyet Maud M Jacobsen Benjamin B Rosing Minik T MT

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20100601 24

Recent high precision (142)Nd isotope measurements showed that global silicate differentiation may have occurred as early as 30-75 Myr after the Solar System formation [Bennett V, et al. (2007) Science 318:1907-1910]. This time scale is almost contemporaneous with Earth's core formation at approximately 30 Myr [Yin Q, et al. (2002) Nature 418:949-952]. The (182)Hf-(182)W system provides a powerful complement to the (142)Nd results for early silicate differentiation, because both core formation a ...[more]

PMID: 20534492

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Project description:The Moon-forming giant impact extensively melts and partially vaporizes the silicate Earth and delivers a substantial mass of metal to Earth's core. The subsequent evolution of the magma ocean and overlying atmosphere has been described by theoretical models but observable constraints on this epoch have proved elusive. Here, we report thermodynamic and climate calculations of the primordial atmosphere during the magma ocean and water ocean epochs respectively and forge new links with observations to gain insight into the behavior of volatiles on the Hadean Earth. As accretion wanes, Earth's magma ocean crystallizes, outgassing the bulk of its volatiles into the primordial atmosphere. The redox state of the magma ocean controls both the chemical composition of the outgassed volatiles and the hydrogen isotopic composition of water oceans that remain after hydrogen escape from the primordial atmosphere. The climate modeling indicates that multi-bar H2-rich atmospheres generate sufficient greenhouse warming and rapid kinetics resulting in ocean-atmosphere H2O-H2 isotopic equilibration. Whereas water condenses and is mostly retained, molecular hydrogen does not condense and can escape, allowing large quantities (~102 bars) of hydrogen - if present - to be lost from the Earth in this epoch. Because the escaping inventory of H can be comparable to the hydrogen inventory in primordial water oceans, equilibrium deuterium enrichment can be large with a magnitude that depends on the initial atmospheric H2 inventory. Under equilibrium partitioning, the water molecule concentrates deuterium and, to the extent that hydrogen in other forms (e.g., H2) are significant species in the outgassed atmosphere, pronounced D/H enrichments (~1.5-2x) in the oceans are expected from equilibrium partitioning in this epoch. By contrast, the common view that terrestrial water has a carbonaceous chondritic source requires the oceans to preserve the isotopic composition of that source, undergoing minimal D-enrichment via equilibration with H2 followed by hydrodynamic escape. Such minimal enrichment places upper limits on the amount of primordial atmospheric H2 in contact with Hadean water oceans and implies oxidizing conditions (logfO2>IW+1, H2/H2O<0.3) for outgassing from the magma ocean. Preservation of an approximate carbonaceous chondrite D/H signature in the oceans thus provides evidence that the observed oxidation of silicate Earth occurred before crystallization of the final magma ocean, yielding a new constraint on the timing of this critical event in Earth history. The seawater-carbonaceous chondrite "match" in D/H (to ~10-20%) further constrains the prior existence of an atmospheric H2 inventory - of any origin - on post-giant-impact Earth to <20 bars, and suggests that the terrestrial mantle supplied the oxidant for the chemical resorption of metals during terrestrial late accretion.

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Coupled 182W-142Nd constraint for early Earth differentiation.

Publications

Coupled 182W-142Nd constraint for early Earth differentiation.

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