The nature of pristine noble gases in mantle plumes
High-precision noble gas data show that the Hawaiian and Icelandic mantle plume sources contain uniquely primitive neon that is composed of moderately nucleogenic neon-21 and a primordial component indistinguishable from the meteoritic occurrence of solar neon. This suggests that Earth's solar-type rare gas inventory was acquired during accretion from small planetesimals previously irradiated by solar wind from the early sun. However, nonradiogenic argon, krypton, and xenon isotopes derived from the mantle display nonsolar compositions and indicate an atmosphere-like fingerprint that is not due to recent subduction.
Trieloff
M
Universite Denis Diderot-Paris 7, Laboratoire de Geochimie et Cosmochimie, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing,
Kunz
J
Clague
DA
Harrison
D
Allegre
CJ