Reconstructing the aqueous environment of the Ryugu parent body through the speciation of multiple elementsOPEN ACCESS 

Takahiro Kawai, Keisuke Fukushi, Tomohiro Ohno, Hiroki Suga, Masayuki Uesugi, Ayu Takemoto, Akiko Yamaguchi, Takaaki Itai, Yuta Ijichi, Shohei Yamashita, Yasuhiro Niwa, Ryoichi Nakada, Mizuho Koike, Hideto Yoshida, Masaki Oura, Megumi Matsumoto, Tomohiro Usui, Yoko Kebukawa, Takazo Shibuya, Shogo Tachibana, Yasuhito Sekine, Tomoki Nakamura & Yoshio Takahashi

Nature Communications, Volume 17, Article number: 10743, Published: 16 October 2026

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“The parent body of the C-type asteroid Ryugu experienced aqueous alteration. The past aqueous environments have been reconstructed using mineralogies and geochemical modeling, often assuming Na-Cl-rich fluid compositions. Here, we reconstruct Ryugu’s aqueous environment using chemical equilibrium modeling constrained by Electron Probe Microanalyzer (EPMA) and X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy. Our results suggest that Ryugu water possessed lower salinity than previously estimated and was highly reducing (Eh: −0.5 to −0.8 V) and strongly alkaline (pH: 10.3 to 11.5) conditions conducive to prebiotic organic reactions. The inferred high hydrogen fugacity, lack of NaCl, and low salinity recorded in Ryugu sample suggest that aqueous alteration occurred beneath a surface ice layer, with subsequent ice sublimation driving water loss. These findings refine our understanding of C-type asteroids evolution and the quantity and nature of water delivered to the early Earth.”