Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Determination of the initial hydrogen isotopic composition of the solar system

Nature Astronomy volume 6, pages 458–463 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The initial isotopic composition of water in the Solar System is of paramount importance to understanding the origin of water on planetary bodies but remains unknown, despite numerous studies1,2,3,4,5. Here we use the isotopic composition of hydrogen in calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs) from primitive meteorites, the oldest Solar System rocks, to establish the hydrogen isotopic composition of water at the onset of Solar System formation. We report the hydrogen isotopic composition of nominally anhydrous minerals from CAI fragments trapped in a once-melted host CAI. Primary minerals have extremely low D/H ratios, with δD values down to −850‰, recording the trapping of nebular hydrogen. Minerals rich in oxidised iron formed before the capture of the fragments record the existence of a nebular gas reservoir with an oxygen fugacity substantially above the solar value and a D/H ratio within 20% of that of the Earth’s oceans. Hydrogen isotopes also correlate with oxygen and nitrogen isotopes, indicating that planetary reservoirs of volatile elements formed within the first 2 × 105 years of the Solar System, during the main CAI formation epoch. We propose that the isotopic composition of inner Solar System water was established during the collapse of the protosolar cloud core owing to a massive admixture of interstellar water.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Petrographic description of CAI E101.1.
Fig. 2: Distribution of H isotopic compositions.
Fig. 3: Comparison between H isotopes and isotopes of other volatile elements in CAIs and planetary components.
Fig. 4: Schematic representation of H isotope distribution in the innermost young Solar System during CAI formation.

Data availability

All data used in the manuscript are presented in the Supplementary Data and are available on request from the corresponding author.

References

  1. Robert, F. The origin of water on Earth. Science 293, 1056–1058 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Drouart, A., Dubrulle, B., Gautier, D. & Robert, F. Structure and transport in the solar nebula from constraints on deuterium enrichment and giant planets formation. Icarus 140, 129–155 (1999).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Jacquet, E. & Robert, F. Water transport in protoplanetary disks and the hydrogen isotopic composition of chondrites. Icarus 223, 722–732 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Cleeves, L. I. et al. The ancient heritage of water ice in the solar system. Science 345, 1590–1593 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Yang, L., Ciesla, F. J. & Alexander, C. M. O. ’D. The D/H ratio of water in the solar nebula during its formation and evolution. Icarus 226, 256–267 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Pignatale, F. C., Charnoz, S., Chaussidon, M. & Jacquet, E. Making the planetary material diversity during the early assembling of the solar system. Astrophys. J. Lett. 867, 7pp (2018). L23.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Connelly, J. N. et al. The absolute chronology and thermal processing of solids in the solar protoplanetary disk. Science 338, 651–655 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. MacPherson, G. J. in Meteorites and Cosmochemical Processes Treatise on Geochemistry Vol. 1, 2nd edn (ed. Davis, A. M.) 139–179 (Elsevier, 2014).

  9. Bonal, L., Quirico, E., Bourot-Denise, M. & Montagnac, G. Determination of the petrologic type of CV3 chondrites by Raman spectroscopy of included organic matter. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 70, 1849–1863 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. El Goresy, A. et al. Efremovka 101.1: a CAI with ultrarefractory REE patterns and enormous enrichments of Sc, Zr and Y in fassaite and perovskite. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 66, 1459–1491 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Aléon, J., Marin-Carbonne, J., McKeegan, K. D. & El Goresy, A. O, Mg, and Si isotope distributions in the complex ultra-refractory CAI Efremovka 101.1: assimilation of ultra-refractory, FUN, and regular CAI precursors. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 232, 48–81 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Lévy, D., Aléon, J., Aléon-Toppani, A. & Brunetto, R. Alteration phases in the E101.1 compound CAI: evidence of nebular processes? Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 54, A242 (2019). S2.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Lévy, D. et al. NanoSIMS imaging of D/H ratios on FIB sections. Anal. Chem. 91, 13763–13771 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Stephant, A., Remusat, L. & Robert, F. Water in type I chondrules of Paris CM chondrite. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 199, 75–90 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Piani, L. et al. Earth’s water may have been inherited from material similar to enstatite chondrite meteorites. Science 369, 1110–1113 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Yang, X., Keppler, H. & Li, Y. Molecular hydrogen in mantle minerals. Geochem. Persp. Lett. 2, 160–168 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Roskosz, M. et al. Kinetic D/H fractionation during hydration and dehydration of silicate glasses, melts and nominally anhydrous minerals. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 233, 14–32 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Yurimoto, H., Ito, M. & Nagasawa, H. Oxygen isotope exchange between refractory inclusion in Allende and solar nebula gas. Science 282, 1874–1877 (1998).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Aléon, J. Oxygen isotopes in the early protoplanetary disk inferred from pyroxene in a classical type B CAI. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 440, 62–70 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Meibom, A. et al. Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of the Sun inferred from a high-temperature solar nebula condensate. Astrophys. J. 656, L33–L36 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Füri, E., Chaussidon, M. & Marty, B. Evidence for an early nitrogen isotopic evolution in the solar nebula from volatile analyses of a CAI from the CV3 chondrite NWA 8616. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 153, 183–201 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Brennecka, G. A. et al. Astronomical context of solar system formation from molybdenum isotopes in meteorite inclusions. Science 370, 837–840 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Grewal, D. S., Dasgupta, R. & Marty, B. A very early origin of isotopically distinct nitrogen in inner solar system protoplanets. Nat. Astron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-01283-y (2021).

  24. Lee, Y.-N., Charnoz, S. & Hennebelle, P. Protoplanetary disk formation from the collapse of a prestellar core. Astron. Astrophys. 648, A101 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Robert, F. et al. Hydrogen isotope fractionation in methane plasma. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 870–874 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Thiemens, M. H. History and applications of mass-independent isotope effects. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 34, 217–262 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Telus, M., Huss, G. R., Ogliore, R. C., Nagashima, K. & Tachibana, S. Recalculation of data for short-lived radionuclide systems using less-biased ratio estimation. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 47, 2013–2030 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Deloule, E., France-Lanord, C. & Albarède, F. in Stable Isotope Geochemistry: A Tribute to Samuel Epstein Special Publications Vol. 3 (eds Taylor, H. P. et al.) 53–62 (Geochemical Society, 1991).

  29. Bureau, H., Raepsaet, C., Khodja, H., Carraro, A. & Aubaud, C. Determination of hydrogen content in geological samples using elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA). Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 73, 3311–3322 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Xia, Q.-K., Dallai, L. & Deloule, E. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope heterogeneity of clinopyroxene megacryst from Nushan volcano, SE China. Chem. Geol. 209, 137–151 (2004).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. Aléon, J., Engrand, C., Robert, F. & Chaussidon, M. Clues to the origin of interplanetary dust particles from the isotopic study of their hydrogen-bearing phases. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 65, 4399–4412 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Discussions with L. Remusat and F. Robert and help from the NanoSIMS staff R. Duhamel and A. Gonzalez-Cano are appreciated. The FIB section preparation was partly supported by the French Renatech network. D. Troadec is warmly thanked. This work was supported by ATM grants from the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle and by the French National Program of Planetology PNP INSU/CNRS.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, Sorbonne Université, CNRS UMR 7590, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France

    J. Aléon, D. Lévy & H. Bureau

  2. Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS UMR 8617, Orsay, France

    D. Lévy & A. Aléon-Toppani

  3. Laboratoire des Fluides Complexes et leurs Réservoirs (LFCR), E2S UPPA - Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, CNRS, Total, Pau, France

    D. Lévy

  4. Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, NIMBE, LEEL, Gif sur Yvette, France

    H. Khodja

  5. Institut de Chimie Moléculaire et des Matériaux d’Orsay, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS UMR 8182, Orsay, France

    F. Brisset

Authors
  1. J. Aléon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. D. Lévy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. Aléon-Toppani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H. Bureau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. H. Khodja
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. F. Brisset
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

J.A. and A.A.-T. designed and supervised the study. D.L. characterized the sample, performed the NanoSIMS analyses and reduced the data. H.B. and H.K. characterized the standards by ERDA. F.B. performed scanning electron microscope imaging of the FIB sections. J.A., A.A.-T. and D.L. interpreted the data. J.A. and A.A.-T. wrote the manuscript with input from all other co-authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Aléon.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Astronomy thanks Romain Tartese and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Discussion, Figs. 1–10 and references.

Supplementary Data

Supplementary Tables 1–3.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Aléon, J., Lévy, D., Aléon-Toppani, A. et al. Determination of the initial hydrogen isotopic composition of the solar system. Nat Astron 6, 458–463 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01595-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01595-7

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing