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Published on: June 5, 2014
Extinct (129)I in halite from a primitive meteorite: evidence for evaporite formation in the early solar system
1Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. Department of Mineralogy, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK.
Abstract:
Halite crystals from the Zag H3-6 chondrite contain essentially pure (monoisotopic) xenon-129 ((129)Xe) produced in the early history of the solar system by the decay of short-lived iodine-129 ((129)I) (half-life = 15.7 million years). Correlated release of (129)Xe and (128)Xe, produced artificially from (127)I by neutron irradiation, corresponds to an initial ((129)I/(127)I) ratio of (1.35 +/- 0.05) x 10(-4), close to the most primitive early solar system value. If the (129)Xe was produced by in situ decay, then the halite formed from an aqueous fluid within 2 million years of the oldest known solar system minerals.
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