Water circulation in Ryugu asteroid affected the distribution of nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies in returned sample

Abstract

Studies of material returned from Cb asteroid Ryugu have revealed considerable mineralogical and chemical heterogeneity, stemming primarily from brecciation and aqueous alteration. Isotopic anomalies could have also been affected by delivery of exogenous clasts and aqueous mobilization of soluble elements. Here, we show that isotopic anomalies for mildly soluble Cr are highly variable in Ryugu and CI chondrites, whereas those of Ti are relatively uniform. This variation in Cr isotope ratios is most likely due to physicochemical fractionation between 54 Cr-rich presolar nanoparticles and Cr-bearing secondary minerals at the millimeter-scale in the bulk samples, likely due to extensive aqueous alteration in their parent bodies that occurred 5.2 − 1.4 + 1.8 Ma after Solar System birth. In contrast, Ti isotopes were marginally affected by this process. Our results show that isotopic heterogeneities in asteroids are not all nebular or accretionary in nature but can also reflect element redistribution by water.

Nucleosynthetic Cr-Ti isotopic variations in Ryugu are not all of nebular origin, but reflect elemental redistribution by water.