Importance of water and organics in the early Solar System: From interstellar inheritance to planet formation
Conel M.O’D. Alexander (DTM, Carnegie Institution of Washington)
Accretion of Earth’s volatiles: In terms of their H and N isotopes, as well as volatile element abundances, the CI and CM like bodies are the most likely the sources of Earth’s volatiles [5, 15]. Since the bulk H and N isotopic compositions of CI and CM chondrites probably evolved during their aqueous alteration, the Earth’s building blocks cannot have accreted them until after alteration was complete, which was ≥4-5 Myr after CAIs [13] and after Mars-sized embryos had begun to form [28].
