Molten I-Type cosmic spherules formed by heating, oxidation and melting of extraterrestrial Fe,Ni metal alloys. The entire oxygen in these spherules sources from the atmosphere. Therefore, I-Type cosmic spherules are suitable tracers for the isotopic composition of the upper atmosphere at altitudes between 80 and 115 km. Here we present data on I-Type cosmic spherules collected in Antarctica. Their composition is compared with the composition of tropospheric O 2. Our data suggest that the Earth's atmospheric O 2 is isotopically homogenous up to the thermosphere. This makes fossil I-Type micrometeorites ideal proxies for ancient atmospheric CO 2 levels.
Tracing the oxygen isotope composition of the upper Earth's atmosphere using cosmic spherules
Folco L.
2017-01-01
Abstract
Molten I-Type cosmic spherules formed by heating, oxidation and melting of extraterrestrial Fe,Ni metal alloys. The entire oxygen in these spherules sources from the atmosphere. Therefore, I-Type cosmic spherules are suitable tracers for the isotopic composition of the upper atmosphere at altitudes between 80 and 115 km. Here we present data on I-Type cosmic spherules collected in Antarctica. Their composition is compared with the composition of tropospheric O 2. Our data suggest that the Earth's atmospheric O 2 is isotopically homogenous up to the thermosphere. This makes fossil I-Type micrometeorites ideal proxies for ancient atmospheric CO 2 levels.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Pack_2017_NomCom.pdf
accesso aperto
Descrizione: Articolo completo
Tipologia:
Versione finale editoriale
Licenza:
Creative commons
Dimensione
991.2 kB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
991.2 kB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
|
Pack_Manuscript_text.pdf
accesso aperto
Tipologia:
Documento in Pre-print
Licenza:
Creative commons
Dimensione
599.71 kB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
599.71 kB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
