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Originally published in Science Express on 14 June 2007
Science 13 July 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5835, pp. 231 - 233
DOI: 10.1126/science.1142021
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Reports

Remnants of the Early Solar System Water Enriched in Heavy Oxygen Isotopes

Naoya Sakamoto,1 Yusuke Seto,1 Shoichi Itoh,1 Kiyoshi Kuramoto,2 Kiyoshi Fujino,1 Kazuhide Nagashima,3 Alexander N. Krot,3 Hisayoshi Yurimoto1,4*

Oxygen isotopic composition of our solar system is believed to have resulted from mixing of two isotopically distinct nebular reservoirs, 16O-rich and 17,18O-rich relative to Earth. The nature and composition of the 17,18O-rich reservoir are poorly constrained. We report an in situ discovery of a chemically and isotopically unique material distributed ubiquitously in fine-grained matrix of a primitive carbonaceous chondrite Acfer 094. This material formed by oxidation of Fe,Ni-metal and sulfides by water either in the solar nebula or on a planetesimal. Oxygen isotopic composition of this material indicates that the water was highly enriched in 17O and 18O ({delta}17,18OSMOW = +180{per thousand} per mil), providing the first evidence for an extremely 17,18O-rich reservoir in the early solar system.

1 Department of Natural History Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
2 Department of Cosmosciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
3 Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
4 Isotope Imaging Laboratory, Creative Research Initiative "Sousei," Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 001-0021, Japan.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: yuri{at}ep.sci.hokudai.ac.jp

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