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Title: Solar wind contributions to Earth’s oceans

Journal Article · · Nature Astronomy
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [4];  [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [4];  [2];  [4]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7];  [7] more »;  [8];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11] « less
  1. Univ. of Glasgow, Scotland (United Kingdom); Curtin Univ., Perth, WA (Australia); Univ. of Sydney, NSW (Australia); Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
  2. Univ. of Glasgow, Scotland (United Kingdom)
  3. Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States)
  4. Curtin Univ., Perth, WA (Australia)
  5. Natural History Museum, London (United Kingdom)
  6. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Lockheed Martin Corp., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
  7. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  8. NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (United States)
  9. Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States)
  10. Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
  11. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)

The isotopic composition of water in Earth’s oceans is challenging to recreate using a plausible mixture of known extraterrestrial sources such as asteroids—an additional isotopically light reservoir is required. The Sun’s solar wind could provide an answer to balance Earth’s water budget. Here, we used atom probe tomography to directly observe an average ~1 mol% enrichment in water and hydroxyls in the solar-wind-irradiated rim of an olivine grain from the S-type asteroid Itokawa. We also experimentally confirm that H+ irradiation of silicate mineral surfaces produces water molecules. These results suggest that the Itokawa regolith could contain ~20 l m-3 of solar-wind-derived water and that such water reservoirs are probably ubiquitous on airless worlds throughout our Galaxy. The production of this isotopically light water reservoir by solar wind implantation into fine-grained silicates may have been a particularly important process in the early Solar System, potentially providing a means to recreate Earth’s current water isotope ratios.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; UK STFC consortium; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Science and Industry Endowment Fund; Australian Research Council
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0003525; ST/T002328/1; ST/N000846/1; 80NSSC18K0936; AC07-05ID145142; 190101307; ARC LE130100053
OSTI ID:
1834330
Report Number(s):
SAND-2021-8608J; 697171; TRN: US2300163
Journal Information:
Nature Astronomy, Vol. 5, Issue 12; ISSN 2397-3366
Publisher:
Springer NatureCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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