2021/01/07 by Simon Turner, Lucy McGee, M. Humayun +2 · 24 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Environmental Science · Chemistry · #Astro and Planetary Science #Isotope Analysis in Ecology #Planetary Science and Exploration #Meteorite #Chondrite #Astrobiology #Formation and evolution of the Solar System #Parent body #Uranium #Isotope #Geology #Geochemistry #Chemistry #Radiochemistry #Mineralogy #Physics #Nuclear physics
paper · doi:10.1126/science.abc8116
published in Science 371(6525), 164-167 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
openalex publication_date 2021/01/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Recent fluid flow in ancient meteorites Carbonaceous chondritic meteorites are thought to be fragments broken off parent bodies that orbit in the outer Solar System, largely unaltered since their formation. These meteorites contain evidence of reactions with liquid water that was thought to have been lost or completely frozen billions of years ago. Turner et al. examined uranium and thorium isotopes in several carbonaceous chondrites, finding nonequilibrium distributions that imply that uranium ions were transported by fluid flow. Because this signature disappears after several half-lives of the radioactive isotopes, the meteorites must have been exposed to liquid within the past million years. The authors suggest that ice may have melted during the impacts that ejected the meteorites from their parent bodies. Science , this issue p. 164