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Stein B Jacobsen

Publications and source records attributed to Stein B Jacobsen.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Isotopic compositions of cometary matter returned by Stardust.

Hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopic compositions are heterogeneous among comet 81P/Wild 2 particle fragments; however, extreme isotopic anomalies are rare, indicating that the comet is not a pristine aggregate of presolar materials. Nonterrestrial nitrogen and neon isotope ratios suggest that indigenous organic matter and highly volatile materials were successfully collected. Except for a single (17)O-enriched circumstellar stardust grain, silicate and oxide minerals have oxygen isotopic compositions consistent with solar system origin. One refractory grain is (16)O-enriched, like refractory inclusions in meteorites, suggesting that Wild 2 contains material formed at high temperature in the inner solar system and transported to the Kuiper belt before comet accretion.

Carbon Isotopes↗
PubMed2006

Geochemistry: does U-Pb date Earth's core formation?

Constraining the timing of the formation of Earth's core, which defines the birth of our planet, is essential for understanding the early evolution of Earth-like planets. Wood and Halliday and Halliday discuss the apparent discrepancy between the U-Pb (60-80 Myr) and Hf-W clocks (30 Myr) in determining the timescale of Earth's accretion and core formation. We find that the information the authors present is at times contradictory (for example, compare Fig. 1 in ref. 1 with Fig. 1 in ref. 2) and confusing and could suggest that the U-Pb clock constrains core formation better than the Hf-W system. Here we point out the limitations of the U-Pb system and show that the U-Pb age cannot be used to argue for protracted accretion and/or core formation (>50 Myr) because this clock only records the processes that occurred during the last 1% of Earth's accretion and core formation in the Wood and Halliday mechanism.

Comment↗
PubMed2006

Barium isotopes in chondritic meteorites: implications for planetary reservoir models.

High-precision barium isotope measurements yielded differences of up to 25 parts per million in the 137Ba/136Ba ratio and 60 parts per million in the 138Ba/136Ba ratio between chondrites and Earth. These differences probably arose from incomplete mixing of nucleosynthetic material in the solar nebula. Chondritic meteorites have a slight excess of supernova-derived material as compared to Earth, demonstrating that the solar nebula was not perfectly homogenized upon formation.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Chondritic meteorite fragments associated with the Permian-Triassic boundary in Antarctica.

Multiple chondritic meteorite fragments have been found in two sedimentary rock samples from an end-Permian bed at Graphite Peak in Antarctica. The Ni/Fe, Co/Ni, and P/Fe ratios in metal grains; the Fe/Mg and Mn/Fe ratios in olivine and pyroxene; and the chemistry of Fe-, Ni-, P-, and S-bearing oxide in the meteorite fragments are typical of CM-type chondritic meteorites. In one sample, the meteoritic fragments are accompanied by more abundant discrete metal grains, which are also found in an end-Permian bed at Meishan, southern China. We discuss the implications of this finding for a suggested global impact event at the Permian-Triassic boundary.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Diverse supernova sources of pre-solar material inferred from molybdenum isotopes in meteorites.

Variations in the isotopic composition of some components in primitive meteorites demonstrate that the pre-solar material was not completely homogenized, nor was it processed at sufficiently high temperatures to erase the signatures of the diverse stellar sources. This is in accord with the observation that accretion disks of young stellar objects are at relatively low temperatures. Carbonaceous chondrites are considered to represent the 'average' Solar System composition; the rare pre-solar grains in the matrixes of carbonaceous chondrites have been used to identify some sources of the pre-solar material. Here we report that the molybdenum isotopic composition of bulk carbonaceous chondrites is distinctly different from the accepted average solar value. We show that the Mo data require the presence of material produced in at least two different r-processes, and that the contribution from the p-process material is decoupled from the r-process, all occurring in supernova explosions. This is consistent with the emerging picture of diverse sources inferred from short-lived isotopes in the early Solar System and elemental analyses of metal-poor stars.

Journal Article↗