PSRD: Zinc Isotopes Provide Clues to Volatile Loss During Moon Formation
نویسنده
چکیده
Isotopic analyses of the oxygen and the refractory elements chromium, tungsten, and titanium show that Earth and Moon have the same isotopic compositions for these elements. In contrast, Randal Paniello and Frédéric Moynier (Washington University in St. Louis) and James Day (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla) report from highprecision analyses of the isotopes of the volatile element zinc that the Moon differs significantly from Earth in the abundances of zinc isotopes. The authors ascribe this difference to evaporation processes during formation of the Moon by a giant impact. The refractory elements probably did not vaporize significantly during lunar formation, leaving their isotopic compositions unscathed by this significant event in Solar System history.
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