Extinct 129I in Halite from a Primitive Meteorite: Evidence for Evaporite Formation in the Early Solar System

doi:10.1126/science.288.5472.1819

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Geological Sciences

Science 9 June 2000:
Vol. 288. no. 5472, pp. 1819 - 1821
DOI: 10.1126/science.288.5472.1819

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Extinct ¹²⁹I in Halite from a Primitive Meteorite: Evidence for Evaporite Formation in the Early Solar System

James Whitby, ¹^* Ray Burgess, ¹ Grenville Turner, ¹ Jamie Gilmour, ¹ John Bridges ²

Halite crystals from the Zag H3-6 chondrite contain essentially pure (monoisotopic) xenon-129 (¹²⁹Xe) produced in the early history of the solar system by the decayof short-lived iodine-129 (¹²⁹I) (half-life = 15.7 million years). Correlated release of ¹²⁹Xe and ¹²⁸Xe, produced artificially from ¹²⁷I by neutron irradiation, corresponds to an initial (¹²⁹I/¹²⁷I) ratio of (1.35 ± 0.05) × 10⁴, close to the most primitive early solar system value. If the¹²⁹Xe was produced by in situ decay, then the halite formed froman aqueous fluid within 2 million years of the oldest known solarsystem minerals.

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
² Department of Mineralogy, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK.
^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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