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Nature 444, 162 (9 November 2006) | doi:10.1038/444162a; Published online 8 November 2006

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Earth science: Isotopic hide and seek

Francis Albarède1

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Isotopes formed by the decay of radioactive nuclei provide evidence of how Earth was shaped in its infancy. But some decay products seem to be hidden — a finding that will revitalize a debate about Earth's interior.

It is thought that Earth formed, along with the rest of the Solar System, from the gravitational collapse of a huge cloud of gas. But what were the processes that turned the resulting ball of rubble into a planet endowed with a metallic liquid core, a thick viscous mantle and a thin continental crust?

  1. Francis Albarède is at Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 69007 Lyon, France.
    Email: albarede@ens-lyon.fr

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