Planet Earth: Missing chromium is clue to planet formation

The finding, to be published online by the journal Science Feb. 24, will help scientists understand the early stages of planet formation, said Qing-Zhu Yin, professor of geology at UC Davis and coauthor on the paper.

Yin, former postdoctoral scholar Frederic Moynier and Edwin Schauble of the Department and Earth and Space Sciences at UCLA used specialized equipment at UC Davis to make very exact measurements of chromium isotopes in meteorites, compared to rocks from Earth's crust, and use modern high performance computers to simulate early Earth environment.

They studied a class of meteorites called chondrites, which are leftovers from the formation of the solar system over four and half billion years ago.

As well as adding shiny, rust-proof surfaces to metalwork, chromium adds color to emeralds and rubies. It exists as four stable (non-radioactive) isotopes with atomic masses of 50, 52, 53 and 54.

It has been known for decades that chromium isotopes are relatively underrepresented in Earth's mantle and crust, Yin said. That could either be because they were volatile and evaporated into space, or got sucked into Earth's deep core at some point.

By making very accurate measurements of chromium isotopes in the meteorites compared to Earth rocks and comparing them to theoretical predictions, the researchers were able to show for the first time that the lighter isotopes preferentially go into the core. From this the team inferred that some 65 percent of the missing chromium is most likely in Earth's core.

Furthermore, the separation must have happened early in the planet building process, probably in the multiple smaller bodies that assembled into Earth or when Earth was still molten but smaller than today.

Moynier is now assistant professor at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St Louis. The work was funded by grants from NASA and the National Science Foundation.