The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)

Hydrogen Isotopic Composition of Hydrous Minerals in Asteroid Ryugu

  • Laurette Piani,
  • Kazuhide Nagashima,
  • Noriyuki Kawasaki,
  • Naoya Sakamoto,
  • Ken-ichi Bajo,
  • Yoshinari Abe,
  • Jérôme Aléon,
  • Conel M. O’D. Alexander,
  • Sachiko Amari,
  • Yuri Amelin,
  • Martin Bizzarro,
  • Audrey Bouvier,
  • Richard W. Carlson,
  • Marc Chaussidon,
  • Byeon-Gak Choi,
  • Nicolas Dauphas,
  • Andrew M. Davis,
  • Tommaso Di Rocco,
  • Wataru Fujiya,
  • Ryota Fukai,
  • Ikshu Gautam,
  • Makiko K. Haba,
  • Yuki Hibiya,
  • Hiroshi Hidaka,
  • Hisashi Homma,
  • Peter Hoppe,
  • Gary R. Huss,
  • Kiyohiro Ichida,
  • Tsuyoshi Iizuka,
  • Trevor R. Ireland,
  • Akira Ishikawa,
  • Shoichi Itoh,
  • Noriko T. Kita,
  • Kouki Kitajima,
  • Thorsten Kleine,
  • Shintaro Komatani,
  • Alexander N. Krot,
  • Ming-Chang Liu,
  • Yuki Masuda,
  • Kevin D. McKeegan,
  • Mayu Morita,
  • Kazuko Motomura,
  • Frédéric Moynier,
  • Izumi Nakai,
  • Ann Nguyen,
  • Larry Nittler,
  • Morihiko Onose,
  • Andreas Pack,
  • Changkun Park,
  • Liping Qin,
  • Sara S. Russell,
  • Maria Schönbächler,
  • Lauren Tafla,
  • Haolan Tang,
  • Kentaro Terada,
  • Yasuko Terada,
  • Tomohiro Usui,
  • Sohei Wada,
  • Meenakshi Wadhwa,
  • Richard J. Walker,
  • Katsuyuki Yamashita,
  • Qing-Zhu Yin,
  • Tetsuya Yokoyama,
  • Shigekazu Yoneda,
  • Edward D. Young,
  • Hiroharu Yui,
  • Ai-Cheng Zhang,
  • Tomoki Nakamura,
  • Hiroshi Naraoka,
  • Ryuji Okazaki,
  • Kanako Sakamoto,
  • Hikaru Yabuta,
  • Masanao Abe,
  • Akiko Miyazaki,
  • Aiko Nakato,
  • Masahiro Nishimura,
  • Tatsuaki Okada,
  • Toru Yada,
  • Kasumi Yogata,
  • Satoru Nakazawa,
  • Takanao Saiki,
  • Satoshi Tanaka,
  • Fuyuto Terui,
  • Yuichi Tsuda,
  • Sei-ichiro Watanabe,
  • Makoto Yoshikawa,
  • Shogo Tachibana,
  • Hisayoshi Yurimoto

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acc393
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 946, no. 2
p. L43

Abstract

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Rock fragments of the Cb-type asteroid Ryugu returned to Earth by the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission share mineralogical, chemical, and isotopic properties with the Ivuna-type (CI) carbonaceous chondrites. Similar to CI chondrites, these fragments underwent extensive aqueous alteration and consist predominantly of hydrous minerals likely formed in the presence of liquid water on the Ryugu parent asteroid. Here we present an in situ analytical survey performed by secondary ion mass spectrometry from which we have estimated the D/H ratio of Ryugu’s hydrous minerals, D/H _Ryugu , to be [165 ± 19] × 10 ^−6 , which corresponds to δ D _Ryugu = +59 ± 121‰ (2 σ ). The hydrous mineral D/H _Ryugu ’s values for the two sampling sites on Ryugu are similar; they are also similar to the estimated D/H ratio of hydrous minerals in the CI chondrites Orgueil and Alais. This result reinforces a link between Ryugu and CI chondrites and an inference that Ryugu’s samples, which avoided terrestrial contamination, are our best proxy to estimate the composition of water at the origin of hydrous minerals in CI-like material. Based on this data and recent literature studies, the contribution of CI chondrites to the hydrogen of Earth’s surficial reservoirs is evaluated to be ∼3%. We conclude that the water responsible for the alteration of Ryugu’s rocks was derived from water ice precursors inherited from the interstellar medium; the ice partially re-equilibrated its hydrogen with the nebular H _2 before being accreted on the Ryugu’s parent asteroid.

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