Chondritic xenon in the Earth’s mantle
Antonio Caracausi (1,2), Guillaume Avice (2), Peter G. Burnard (2), Evelyn Füri (2) and Bernard Marty (2); 1) Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Palermo, 90146 Palermo, Italy, 2) Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, UMR 7358, Université de Lorraine, CNRS, 54501 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
Nature (2016), V533, pp82-85, doi: 10.1594/IEDA/100582
Noble gas isotopes are powerful tracers of the origins of planetary volatiles, and the accretion and evolution of the Earth. Here we show, using high-precision analysis of magmatic gas from the Eifel volcanic area (in Germany), that the light xenon isotopes identify a chondritic primordial component that differs from the precursor of atmospheric xenon. This is consistent with an asteroidal origin for the volatiles in the Earth’s mantle, and indicates that the volatiles in the atmosphere and mantle originated from distinct cosmochemical sources. Furthermore, our data are consistent with the origin of Eifel magmatism being a deep mantle plume.
- Noble Gas MS
- Helix MC Plus
- Xe isotopes
- Meteorites
United States
