Calcium-48 isotopic anomalies in bulk chondrites and achondrites: Evidence for a uniform isotopic reservoir in the inner protoplanetary disk
Nicolas Dauphas, James H. Chen, Junjun Zhang, Dimitri A. Papanastassiou, Andrew M. Davis, Claudia Travaglio
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume 407, 1 December 2014, Pages 96–108
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.
