Inward Radial Mixing of Interstellar Water Ices in the Solar Protoplanetary Disk
Lionel G. Vacher, Yves Marrocchi, Maximilien J. Verdier-Paoletti, Johan Villeneuve, and Matthieu Gounelle
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 827, Number 1
Published 2016 August 2
“The very wide diversity of asteroid compositions in the main belt suggests significant material transport in the solar protoplanetary disk and hints at the presence of interstellar ices in hydrated bodies. However, only a few quantitative estimations of the contribution of interstellar ice in the inner solar system have been reported, leading to considerable uncertainty about the extent of radial inward mixing in the solar protoplanetary disk 4.56 Ga ago. We show that the pristine CM chondrite Paris contains primary Ca-carbonates whose O-isotopic compositions require an 8%–35% contribution from interstellar water. The presence of interstellar water in Paris is confirmed by its bulk D/H isotopic composition that shows significant D enrichment (D/H = (167 ± 0.2) × 10−6) relative to the mean D/H of CM chondrites ((145 ± 3) × 10−6) and the putative D/H of local CM water ((82 ± 1.5) × 10−6). These results imply that (i) efficient radial mixing of interstellar ices occurred from the outer zone of the solar protoplanetary disk inward and that (ii) chondrites accreted water ice grains from increasing heliocentric distances in the solar protoplanetary disk.”
