Solar-wind krypton and solid/gas fractionation in the Early Solar Nebula

Abstract

Krypton is the best candidate for determining limits on solid/gas fractionation in the early sun because of the smoothness of the odd-mass abundance curve in its mass region, which permits relatively precise interpolations of its abundance assuming no fractionation. Here we calculate the solar-system Kr abundance from solar-wind noble-gas ratios, determined previously by low-temperature oxidations of lunar ilmenite grains, normalized to Si by spacecraft solar-wind measurements. The estimated ^(83)Kr abundance of 4.1 ± 1.5 per 10^6 Si atoms is within uncertainty of estimates assuming no fractionation, determined from CI-chondrite abundances of surrounding elements. This is significant because it is the first such constraint on solid/gas fractionation, though the large uncertainty only confines it to somewhat less than a factor of two.

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