Late delivery of exotic chromium to the crust of Mars by water-rich carbonaceous asteroids

Ke Zhu; Martin Schiller; Lu Pan; Nikitha Susan Saji; Kirsten K. Larsen; Elsa Amsellem; Courtney Rundhaug; Paolo Sossi; Ingo Leya; Frederic Moynier; Martin Bizzarro

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abp8415

Late delivery of exotic chromium to the crust of Mars by water-rich carbonaceous asteroids

Ke Zhu, Martin Schiller, Lu Pan, Nikitha Susan Saji, Kirsten K. Larsen, Elsa Amsellem, Courtney Rundhaug, Paolo Sossi, Ingo Leya, Frederic Moynier, Martin Bizzarro^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Earth Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The terrestrial planets endured a phase of bombardment following their accretion, but the nature of this late accreted material is debated, preventing a full understanding of the origin of inner solar system volatiles. We report the discovery of nucleosynthetic chromium isotope variability (μ⁵⁴Cr) in Martian meteorites that represent mantle-derived magmas intruded in the Martian crust. The μ⁵⁴Cr variability, ranging from −33.1 ± 5.4 to +6.8 ± 1.5 parts per million, correlates with magma chemistry such that samples having assimilated crustal material define a positive μ⁵⁴Cr endmember. This compositional endmember represents the primordial crust modified by impacting outer solar system bodies of carbonaceous composition. Late delivery of this volatile-rich material to Mars provided an exotic water inventory corresponding to a global water layer >300 meters deep, in addition to the primordial water reservoir from mantle outgassing. This carbonaceous material may also have delivered a source of biologically relevant molecules to early Mars.

Original language	English
Article number	eabp8415
Journal	Science Advances
Volume	8
Issue number	46
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abp8415
Publication status	Published - 16 Nov 2022

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Funding Information:
Financial support for this project was provided by grants from the Carlsberg Foundation (CF18_1105) and the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant Agreement 833275—DEEPTIME to M.B. and ERC Consolidator Grant Agreement 101001282—METAL to F.M.) and grants from the Carlsberg Foundation (CF20_0209) and the Villum Fonden (00025333) to M.S. Additional support was provided from the UnivEarthS Labex program (ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-11-IDEX-0005-02). K.Z. was supported by fellowships from China Scholarship Council and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

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Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved;

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title = "Late delivery of exotic chromium to the crust of Mars by water-rich carbonaceous asteroids",

abstract = "The terrestrial planets endured a phase of bombardment following their accretion, but the nature of this late accreted material is debated, preventing a full understanding of the origin of inner solar system volatiles. We report the discovery of nucleosynthetic chromium isotope variability (μ54Cr) in Martian meteorites that represent mantle-derived magmas intruded in the Martian crust. The μ54Cr variability, ranging from −33.1 ± 5.4 to +6.8 ± 1.5 parts per million, correlates with magma chemistry such that samples having assimilated crustal material define a positive μ54Cr endmember. This compositional endmember represents the primordial crust modified by impacting outer solar system bodies of carbonaceous composition. Late delivery of this volatile-rich material to Mars provided an exotic water inventory corresponding to a global water layer >300 meters deep, in addition to the primordial water reservoir from mantle outgassing. This carbonaceous material may also have delivered a source of biologically relevant molecules to early Mars.",

author = "Ke Zhu and Martin Schiller and Lu Pan and Saji, {Nikitha Susan} and Larsen, {Kirsten K.} and Elsa Amsellem and Courtney Rundhaug and Paolo Sossi and Ingo Leya and Frederic Moynier and Martin Bizzarro",

note = "Funding Information: Financial support for this project was provided by grants from the Carlsberg Foundation (CF18_1105) and the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant Agreement 833275—DEEPTIME to M.B. and ERC Consolidator Grant Agreement 101001282—METAL to F.M.) and grants from the Carlsberg Foundation (CF20_0209) and the Villum Fonden (00025333) to M.S. Additional support was provided from the UnivEarthS Labex program (ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-11-IDEX-0005-02). K.Z. was supported by fellowships from China Scholarship Council and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved;",

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AU - Zhu, Ke

AU - Schiller, Martin

AU - Pan, Lu

AU - Saji, Nikitha Susan

AU - Larsen, Kirsten K.

AU - Amsellem, Elsa

AU - Rundhaug, Courtney

AU - Sossi, Paolo

AU - Leya, Ingo

AU - Moynier, Frederic

AU - Bizzarro, Martin

N1 - Funding Information: Financial support for this project was provided by grants from the Carlsberg Foundation (CF18_1105) and the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant Agreement 833275—DEEPTIME to M.B. and ERC Consolidator Grant Agreement 101001282—METAL to F.M.) and grants from the Carlsberg Foundation (CF20_0209) and the Villum Fonden (00025333) to M.S. Additional support was provided from the UnivEarthS Labex program (ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-11-IDEX-0005-02). K.Z. was supported by fellowships from China Scholarship Council and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved;

PY - 2022/11/16

Y1 - 2022/11/16

N2 - The terrestrial planets endured a phase of bombardment following their accretion, but the nature of this late accreted material is debated, preventing a full understanding of the origin of inner solar system volatiles. We report the discovery of nucleosynthetic chromium isotope variability (μ54Cr) in Martian meteorites that represent mantle-derived magmas intruded in the Martian crust. The μ54Cr variability, ranging from −33.1 ± 5.4 to +6.8 ± 1.5 parts per million, correlates with magma chemistry such that samples having assimilated crustal material define a positive μ54Cr endmember. This compositional endmember represents the primordial crust modified by impacting outer solar system bodies of carbonaceous composition. Late delivery of this volatile-rich material to Mars provided an exotic water inventory corresponding to a global water layer >300 meters deep, in addition to the primordial water reservoir from mantle outgassing. This carbonaceous material may also have delivered a source of biologically relevant molecules to early Mars.

AB - The terrestrial planets endured a phase of bombardment following their accretion, but the nature of this late accreted material is debated, preventing a full understanding of the origin of inner solar system volatiles. We report the discovery of nucleosynthetic chromium isotope variability (μ54Cr) in Martian meteorites that represent mantle-derived magmas intruded in the Martian crust. The μ54Cr variability, ranging from −33.1 ± 5.4 to +6.8 ± 1.5 parts per million, correlates with magma chemistry such that samples having assimilated crustal material define a positive μ54Cr endmember. This compositional endmember represents the primordial crust modified by impacting outer solar system bodies of carbonaceous composition. Late delivery of this volatile-rich material to Mars provided an exotic water inventory corresponding to a global water layer >300 meters deep, in addition to the primordial water reservoir from mantle outgassing. This carbonaceous material may also have delivered a source of biologically relevant molecules to early Mars.

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Late delivery of exotic chromium to the crust of Mars by water-rich carbonaceous asteroids

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