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Originally published in Science Express on 24 August 2006
Science 22 September 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5794, pp. 1763 - 1765
DOI: 10.1126/science.1128865
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Reports

Oxygen Isotope Variation in Stony-Iron Meteorites

R. C. Greenwood,1* I. A. Franchi,1 A. Jambon,2 J. A. Barrat,3 T. H. Burbine4

Asteroidal material, delivered to Earth as meteorites, preserves a record of the earliest stages of planetary formation. High-precision oxygen isotope analyses for the two major groups of stony-iron meteorites (main-group pallasites and mesosiderites) demonstrate that each group is from a distinct asteroidal source. Mesosiderites are isotopically identical to the howardite-eucrite-diogenite clan and, like them, are probably derived from the asteroid 4 Vesta. Main-group pallasites represent intermixed core-mantle material from a single disrupted asteroid and have no known equivalents among the basaltic meteorites. The stony-iron meteorites demonstrate that intense asteroidal deformation accompanied planetary accretion in the early Solar System.

1 1Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA UK.
2 Laboratoire Magmatologie et Géochimie Inorganique et Expérimentale, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, CNRS UMR 7047 case 110, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France.
3 Université de Bretagne Occidentale–Universitaire Européen de la Mer, CNRS UMR 6538 (Domaines Océaniques), place Nicolas Copernic, F-29280 Plouzané Cedex, France.
4 Department of Astronomy, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA 01075, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: r.c.greenwood{at}open.ac.uk

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
From the Cover: A unique basaltic micrometeorite expands the inventory of solar system planetary crusts.
M. Gounelle, M. Chaussidon, A. Morbidelli, J.-A. Barrat, C. Engrand, M. E. Zolensky, and K. D. McKeegan (2009)
PNAS 106, 6904-6909
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Oxygen Isotopes in Asteroidal Materials.
I. A. Franchi (2008)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 68, 345-397
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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