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Title:
Contributions of Icy Planetesimals to the Earth's Early Atmosphere
Authors:
Owen, Tobias C.; Bar-Nun, Akiva
Affiliation:
AA(University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA), AB(Department of Geophysics And Planetary Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel)
Publication:
Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere, v. 31, Issue 4/5, p. 435-458 (2001). (OLEB Homepage)
Publication Date:
08/2001
Origin:
KLUWER
Bibliographic Code:
2001OLEB...31..435O

Abstract

Laboratory experiments on the trapping of gases by ice forming at low temperatures implicate comets as major carriers of the heavy noble gases to the inner planets. These icy planetesimals may also have brought the nitrogen compounds that ultimately produced atmospheric N_2. However, if the sample of three comets analyzed so far is typical, the Earth's oceans cannot have been produced by comets alone, they require an additional source of water with low D/H. The highly fractionated neon in the Earth's atmosphere may also indicate the importance of non-icy carriers of volatiles. The most important additional carrier is probably the rocky material comprising the bulk of the mass of these planets. Venus may require a contribution from icy planetesimals formed at the low temperatures characteristic of the Kuiper Belt.
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arXiv e-prints