Lu-Hf systematics of meteorites

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Scientific paper

We have measured Lu-Hf concentrations and Hf isotope ratios on a number of solar system objects with a new digestion and chemical separation technique (1). The analysed materials include a variety of carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites (CC and OC), basaltic eucrites and a diogenite, and work is ongoing on angrites, aubrites and mesosiderites. Nineteen analyses of OC and CC define, for the first time, a statistically significant Lu-Hf isochron with a slope of 0.09465 ± 145 and intercept of 0.279628 ± 47 (2). In contrast to the CC and type 3 OC (176Lu/177Hf = 0.032-0.034), the more highly metamorphosed OC have a large range of 176Lu/177Hf ratios (0.026-0.036). The large range of 176Lu/177Hf values may be related to heterogeneous variations in phosphate abundances in equilibrated OC, which is supported by the observation that most of the observed variation is defined by this type of material. The present-day bulk-earth 176Hf/177Hf ratio calculated from this study, and a 176Lu/177Hf ratio of 0.0332, is identical to the value of (3) and confirms that the chondritic Hf-Hd isotopic composition is displaced (3 ɛ units) to unradiogenic Hf compared to the terrestrial array. The slope and intercept derived from individual regressions of either the OC or the L type alone are identical within analytical uncertainty. Using a mean age of 4.56 Ga for the chondrite forming event, we derive a value for λ176Lu = 1.983 ± 33 time 10-11 y-1 from the regression of the chondrite meteorites, ca. 6% faster than a recent calibration based on terrestrial material, which has important implications for the differentiation of the early Earth (2, 4). The four basaltic eucrites analysed align on the same array as the chondrites and, as such, chondrites and basaltic eucrites also define a statistically significant isochron with a slope of 0.09462 ± 68 and intercept of 0.279627 ± 20, identical to the values derived from the chondrites alone. Moreover, a recent Lu-Hf study of basaltic eucrites also yielded a slope and intercept identical to that determined here (5). In contrast, three cumulate eucrites of (5) and our analysis of the Bilanga diogenite align on a statistically significant Lu-Hf isochron defining an age of 4.349 ± 0.073 Ga. This implies a genetic relationship between diogenites and cumulate eucrites, and further confirms that cumulate eucrites are at least 100 Myr younger than basaltic eucrites. (1) Bizzarro, M., Baker, J.A. &Ulfbeck D. (in review) Geostandards Newsletter. (2) Bizzarro, M., Baker, J.A., Haack, H., Ulfbeck D. &Rosing M. (In press) Nature. (3) Blichert-Toft, J. &Albarede, F. (1997) EPSL 148, 243-258. (4) Scherer, E., Münker, C. &Mezger, K. (2001) Science 293, 683-686. (5) Blichert-Toft, J., Boyet, M., Télouk, P &Albarède, F. (2002) EPSL 204, 167-181.

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