Oxygen isotopic evidence for vigorous mixing during the Moon-forming giant impact
Abstract
Earth and the Moon are shown here to have indistinguishable oxygen isotope ratios, with a difference in Δ‧17O of -1 ± 5 parts per million (2 standard error). On the basis of these data and our new planet formation simulations that include a realistic model for primordial oxygen isotopic reservoirs, our results favor vigorous mixing during the giant impact and therefore a high-energy, high-angular-momentum impact. The results indicate that the late veneer impactors had an average Δ‧17O within approximately 1 per mil of the terrestrial value, limiting possible sources for this late addition of mass to the Earth-Moon system.
- Publication:
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Science
- Pub Date:
- January 2016
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1603.04536
- Bibcode:
- 2016Sci...351..493Y
- Keywords:
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- PLANET SCI;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Science, Volume 351, Issue 6272, pp. 493-496 (2016)