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Geochemistry

Neon illuminates the mantle

The outer Earth grew largely from material added by impacts from planetesimals, rather than by capture of dust grains from the solar nebula — or at least that's the inference from the latest geochemical analyses.

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Figure 1: A three-component isotope mix.

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Graham, D. Neon illuminates the mantle. Nature 433, 25–26 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/433025a

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