Solar wind contributions to Earth’s oceans
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. We used a...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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NATURE PORTFOLIO
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/244833/ http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90059 |
| _version_ | 1848765322288431104 |
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| author | Daly, Luke Lee, M.R. Hallis, L.J. Ishii, H.A. Bradley, J.P. Bland, Phil Saxey, David Fougerouse, Denis Rickard, William Forman, Lucy Timms, Nick Jourdan, Fred Reddy, Steven Salge, T. Quadir, Zakaria Christou, E. Cox, Morgan A. Aguiar, J.A. Hattar, K. Monterrosa, A. Keller, L.P. Christoffersen, R. Dukes, C.A. Loeffler, M.J. Thompson, M.S. |
| author_facet | Daly, Luke Lee, M.R. Hallis, L.J. Ishii, H.A. Bradley, J.P. Bland, Phil Saxey, David Fougerouse, Denis Rickard, William Forman, Lucy Timms, Nick Jourdan, Fred Reddy, Steven Salge, T. Quadir, Zakaria Christou, E. Cox, Morgan A. Aguiar, J.A. Hattar, K. Monterrosa, A. Keller, L.P. Christoffersen, R. Dukes, C.A. Loeffler, M.J. Thompson, M.S. |
| author_sort | Daly, Luke |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | 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. 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:33:24Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-90059 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:33:24Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | NATURE PORTFOLIO |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-900592023-02-23T07:25:04Z Solar wind contributions to Earth’s oceans Daly, Luke Lee, M.R. Hallis, L.J. Ishii, H.A. Bradley, J.P. Bland, Phil Saxey, David Fougerouse, Denis Rickard, William Forman, Lucy Timms, Nick Jourdan, Fred Reddy, Steven Salge, T. Quadir, Zakaria Christou, E. Cox, Morgan A. Aguiar, J.A. Hattar, K. Monterrosa, A. Keller, L.P. Christoffersen, R. Dukes, C.A. Loeffler, M.J. Thompson, M.S. Science & Technology Physical Sciences Astronomy & Astrophysics NOBLE-GASES LUNAR-SURFACE ORGANIC-MATTER WATER ORIGIN HYDROGEN CHONDRITES ACCRETION DELIVERY SYSTEM 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. 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. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90059 10.1038/s41550-021-01487-w English https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/244833/ http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE190101307 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LE130100053 NATURE PORTFOLIO restricted |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Physical Sciences Astronomy & Astrophysics NOBLE-GASES LUNAR-SURFACE ORGANIC-MATTER WATER ORIGIN HYDROGEN CHONDRITES ACCRETION DELIVERY SYSTEM Daly, Luke Lee, M.R. Hallis, L.J. Ishii, H.A. Bradley, J.P. Bland, Phil Saxey, David Fougerouse, Denis Rickard, William Forman, Lucy Timms, Nick Jourdan, Fred Reddy, Steven Salge, T. Quadir, Zakaria Christou, E. Cox, Morgan A. Aguiar, J.A. Hattar, K. Monterrosa, A. Keller, L.P. Christoffersen, R. Dukes, C.A. Loeffler, M.J. Thompson, M.S. Solar wind contributions to Earth’s oceans |
| title | Solar wind contributions to Earth’s oceans |
| title_full | Solar wind contributions to Earth’s oceans |
| title_fullStr | Solar wind contributions to Earth’s oceans |
| title_full_unstemmed | Solar wind contributions to Earth’s oceans |
| title_short | Solar wind contributions to Earth’s oceans |
| title_sort | solar wind contributions to earth’s oceans |
| topic | Science & Technology Physical Sciences Astronomy & Astrophysics NOBLE-GASES LUNAR-SURFACE ORGANIC-MATTER WATER ORIGIN HYDROGEN CHONDRITES ACCRETION DELIVERY SYSTEM |
| url | https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/244833/ https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/244833/ https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/244833/ http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90059 |