Oxygen isotope evidence from Ryugu samples for early water delivery to Earth by CI chondrites

Greenwood, Richard C.; Franchi, Ian A.; Findlay, Ross; Malley, James A.; Ito, Motoo; Yamaguchi, Akira; Kimura, Makoto; Tomioka, Naotaka; Uesugi, Masayuki; Imae, Naoya; Shirai, Naoki; Ohigashi, Takuji; Liu, Ming-Chang; McCain, Kaitlyn A.; Matsuda, Nozomi; McKeegan, Kevin D.; Uesugi, Kentaro; Nakato, Aiko; Yogata, Kasumi; Yuzawa, Hayato; Kodama, Yu; Tsuchiyama, Akira; Yasutake, Masahiro; Hirahara, Kaori; Tekeuchi, Akihisa; Sekimoto, Shun; Sakurai, Ikuya; Okada, Ikuo; Karouji, Yuzuru; Nakazawa, Satoru; Okada, Tatsuaki; Saiki, Takanao; Tanaka, Satoshi; Terui, Fuyuto; Yoshikawa, Makoto; Miyazaki, Akiko; Nishimura, Masahiro; Yada, Toru; Abe, Masanao; Usui, Tomohiro; Watanabe, Sei-ichiro and Tsuda, Yuichi (2023). Oxygen isotope evidence from Ryugu samples for early water delivery to Earth by CI chondrites. Nature Astronomy, 7(1) pp. 29–38.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01824-7

Abstract

The delivery of water to the inner Solar System, including Earth, is still a debated topic. A preferential role for hydrated asteroids in this process is supported by isotopic measurements. Carbonaceous chondrite (CC) meteorites represent our main source of information about these volatile-rich asteroids. However, the destruction of weaker materials during atmospheric entry creates a bias in our CC data. The return of surface materials from the C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft provides a unique opportunity to study high-porosity, low-density, primitive materials, unrepresented in the meteorite record. We measured the bulk oxygen isotope composition from four Ryugu particles and show that they most closely resemble the rare CI (CC Ivuna-type) chondrites, but with some differences that we attribute to the terrestrial contamination of the CI meteorites. We suggest that CI-related material is widespread among carbonaceous asteroids and a more important source of Earth’s water and other volatiles than its limited presence in our meteoritic collection indicates.

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