Calcium-48 isotopic anomalies in bulk chondrites and achondrites: Evidence for a uniform isotopic reservoir in the inner protoplanetary disk

• Published in: Earth and planetary science letters 2014-12, Vol.407, p.96-108
• Main Authors: Dauphas, Nicolas, Chen, James H., Zhang, Junjun, Papanastassiou, Dimitri A., Davis, Andrew M., Travaglio, Claudia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: accretion; Anomalies; bulk chondrites; calcium-48; Chondrites; Disks; Earth; Enstatite; isotopes; meteorites; nucleosynthesis; Planet formation; Protoplanets; Reservoirs
• ISSN: 0012-821X; 1385-013X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.09.015

Thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) was used to measure the calcium isotopic compositions of carbonaceous, ordinary, enstatite chondrites as well as eucrites and aubrites. We find that after correction for mass-fractionation by internal normalization to a fixed 42Ca/44Ca ratio, the 43Ca/44Ca and 46Ca/44Ca ratios are indistinguishable from terrestrial ratios. In contrast, the 48Ca/44Ca ratios show significant departure from the terrestrial composition (from −2 ε in eucrites to +4 ε in CO and CV chondrites). Isotopic anomalies in ε48Ca correlate with ε50Ti: εCa48=(1.09±0.11)×εTi50+(0.03±0.14). Further work is needed to identify the carrier phase of 48Ca–50Ti anomalies but we suggest that it could be perovskite and that the stellar site where these anomalies were created was also responsible for the nucleosynthesis of the bulk of the solar system inventory of these nuclides. The Earth has identical 48Ca isotopic composition to enstatite chondrites (EH and EL) and aubrites. This adds to a long list of elements that display nucleosynthetic anomalies at a bulk planetary scale but show identical or very similar isotopic compositions between enstatite chondrites, aubrites, and Earth. This suggests that the inner protoplanetary disk was characterized by a uniform isotopic composition (IDUR for Inner Disk Uniform Reservoir), sampled by enstatite chondrites and aubrites, from which the Earth drew most of its constituents. The terrestrial isotopic composition for 17O, 48Ca, 50Ti, 62Ni, and 92Mo is well reproduced by a mixture of 91% enstatite, 7% ordinary, and 2% carbonaceous chondrites. The Earth was not simply made of enstatite chondrites but it formed from the same original material that was later modified by nebular and disk processes. The Moon-forming impactor probably came from the same region as the other embryos that made the Earth, explaining the strong isotopic similarity between lunar and terrestrial rocks. •Bulk meteorites display isotopic anomalies in calcium-48.•Calcium-48 anomalies were inherited from supernova nucleosynthesis.•Enstatite chondrites and aubrites have identical isotopic compositions to Earth.•Earth and E-chondrites formed from a common Inner Disk Uniform Reservoir (IDUR).