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Oxygen Isotopic Composition and Chemical Correlations in Meteorites and the Terrestrial Planets

KR/NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas 77058, U.S.A., david.w.mittlefehldt{at}nasa.gov

Robert N. Clayton

Enrico Fermi Institute, Dept. of Chemistry, Dept. of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, U.S.A.

Michael J. Drake

Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Planetary Sciences Dept., University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, U.S.A.

Kevin Righter

KT/NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas 77058, U.S.A.

Recent models attempting to explain non-mass-dependent oxygen isotopic anomalies in meteorites and planets posit that they may have originated within the gas phase of the solar nebula, which suggests the potential for correlations of non-mass-dependent oxygen isotopic anomalies with other chemical fractionations generated during cooling and condensation of the nebula. We have examined three specific issues: possible correlations of ¹⁷O with (i) oxidation state; (ii) bulk chondrite chemistry; and (iii) bulk planetary properties. Isolated grains and chondrules from several carbonaceous chondrite groups exhibit good to weak positive correlations between ¹⁷O and olivine fayalite content, and whole rock ureilite samples show a positive correlation of ¹⁷O with olivine fayalite content. These are consistent with oxidation of Fe metal by ¹⁷O-, ¹⁸O-enriched oxygen in the precursor materials that formed these objects. In contrast, oxygen isotopic and major element compositions of ferromagnesian phases in ordinary chondrite chondrules, and in bulk chondrites do not show a correlation. Thus, there is no compelling evidence that oxidation of nebular materials was tightly linked to gas species carrying anomalous O. Using average chondrite group compositions, we demonstrate that significant negative correlations of refractory lithophile element/Mg and refractory siderophile element/Ni with ¹⁷O exist. Refractory inclusions (CAIs and AOAs) are modally rare in many chondrite types that exhibit substantial range in ¹⁷O. Thus, the refractory component in these chondrites must occur in a crypto-component, e.g. material dissolved in chondrule melts during chondrule formation. Significant positive correlations of moderately volatile elements/Mg with ¹⁷O are not simply explained by incomplete mixing of ¹⁶O-enriched refractory grains, but are broadly consistent with nebula-based mechanisms of non-mass-dependent oxygen isotope fractionation. The estimated compositions of the primitive mantles of the Earth, Mars and 4 Vesta have some compositional, redox and isotopic properties that vary with heliocentric distance. However, ¹⁷O does not vary monotonically in this sequence, indicating a decoupling of planetary O isotopic composition from other compositional characteristics.

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