Computer Science
Scientific paper
Nov 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003psrd.repte..79t&link_type=abstract
Planetary Science Research Discoveries
Computer Science
Planetary Differentiation, Core Formation, Isotopes, Moon, Mars
Scientific paper
Measurements of the isotopic composition of tungsten (W) show that lunar samples and Martian meteorites have an excess of W-182. This was produced by the decay of hafnium-182 (Hf-182), an isotope with a half-life of only 9 million years. Because tungsten dissolves enthusiastically in metallic iron and hafnium does not, it is possible to use the abundance of W-182 in rocks formed by melting of the silicate mantle as an indicator of the timing of core formation. However, the concentrations of Hf and W in rocky material can be affected by melting and crystallization, so we also need to know how each element concentrates in common minerals in the mantles of the Moon and Mars. The behavior of Hf has been studied experimentally, but this is not true of W. Kevin Righter (Johnson Space Center) and Charles (Chip) Shearer (University of New Mexico) have filled this knowledge void by determining how W partitions between olivine, high- and low-calcium pyroxene, plagioclase feldspar, and garnet.
The new data allowed Righter and Shearer to reexamine available measurements of the isotopic composition of W in lunar samples and Martian meteorites. Their analysis suggests that the lunar magma ocean, a huge magma system that surrounded the Moon when it formed, solidified in less than 30 million years. This is shorter than many theoretical calculations suggest. Pathfinder data and chemical data from Martian meteorites suggest that the core of Mars makes up about 20% of the planet. Core formation and subsequent melting of a region of the mantle containing garnet and high-calcium pyroxene took place less than 20-30 million years after the formation of the first solids in the solar system. This type of research shows the importance of measurements of isotopic compositions of radioactive elements or their decay products and laboratory experiments on the geochemical behavior of those elements.
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