Breunnerite grain and magnesium isotope chemistry reveal cation partitioning during aqueous alteration of asteroid RyuguOPEN ACCESS 

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Toshihiro Yoshimura, Daisuke Araoka, Hiroshi Naraoka, Saburo Sakai, Nanako O. Ogawa, Hisayoshi Yurimoto, Mayu Morita, Morihiko Onose, Tetsuya Yokoyama, Martin Bizzarro, Satoru Tanaka, Naohiko Ohkouchi, Toshiki Koga, Jason P. Dworkin, Tomoki Nakamura, Takaaki Noguchi, Ryuji Okazaki, Hikaru Yabuta, Kanako Sakamoto, Toru Yada, Masahiro Nishimura, Aiko Nakato, Akiko Miyazaki, Kasumi Yogata, Masanao Abe, Tatsuaki Okada, Tomohiro Usui, Makoto Yoshikawa, Takanao Saiki, Satoshi Tanaka, Fuyuto Terui, Satoru Nakazawa, Sei-ichiro Watanabe, Yuichi Tsuda, Shogo Tachibana & Yoshinori Takano

Nature Communications, Volume 15, Article number: 6809

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“Returned samples from the carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu provide pristine information on the original aqueous alteration history of the Solar System. Secondary precipitates, such as carbonates and phyllosilicates, reveal elemental partitioning of the major component ions linked to the primordial brine composition of the asteroid. Here, we report on the elemental partitioning and Mg isotopic composition (25Mg/24Mg) of breunnerite [(Mg, Fe, Mn)CO3] from the Ryugu C0002 sample and the A0106 and C0107 aggregates by sequential leaching extraction of salts, exchangeable ions, carbonates, and silicates. Breunnerite was the sample most enriched in light Mg isotopes, and the 25Mg/24Mg value of the fluid had shifted lower by ~0.38‰ than the initial value (set to 0‰) before dolomite precipitation. As a simple model, the Mg2+ first precipitated in phyllosilicates, followed by dolomite precipitation, at which time ~76−87% of Mg2+ had been removed from the primordial brine. A minor amount of phyllosilicate precipitation continued after dolomite precipitation. The element composition profiles of the latest solution that interacted with the cation exchange pool of Ryugu were predominantly Na-rich. Na+ acts as a bulk electrolyte and contributes to the stabilization of the negative surface charge of phyllosilicates and organic matter on Ryugu.”

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