Preservation of Earth-forming events in the tungsten isotopic composition of modern flood basalts

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Rizo, Hanika, Walker, Richard J., Carlson, Richard W., Horan, Mary F., Mukhopadhyay, Sujoy, Manthos, Vicky, Francis, Don, Jackson, Matthew G.
• Other Authors: NSF
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2016
• Subjects: Multidisciplinary; Baffin Island; Baffin
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aad8563; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.aad8563

Isotopes isolated after impact Details about how Earth formed are gleaned from the daughter products of certain short-lived radioactive isotopes found in rocks. Rizo et al. describe subtle tungsten isotope variations in rocks from the very deep mantle in Baffin Island and the Ontong Java Plateau (see the Perspective by Dahl). The results suggest that portions of Earth have remained unmixed since it formed. The unmixed deep mantle rocks also imply that Earth's core formed from several large impact events. Science , this issue p. 809 see also p. 768