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Injection of meteoric phosphorus into planetary atmospheres
DOI:
10.1016/j.pss.2020.104926
Authors:
Juan Diego
Carrillo-Sánchez
(University of Leeds)
,
David L.
Bones
(University of Leeds)
,
Kevin M.
Douglas
(University of Leeds)
,
George J.
Flynn
(State University of New York at Plattsburgh)
,
Sue
Wirick
(Focused Beam Enterprises)
,
Bruce
Fegley
(Washington University)
,
Tohru
Araki
(Diamond Light Source)
,
Burkhard
Kaulich
(Diamond Light Source)
,
John M. C.
Plane
(University of Leeds)
Co-authored by industrial partner:
No
Type:
Journal Paper
Journal:
Planetary And Space Science
State:
Published (Approved)
Published:
April 2020

Abstract: This study explores the delivery of phosphorus to the upper atmospheres of Earth, Mars, and Venus via the ablation of cosmic dust particles. Micron-size meteoritic particles were flash heated to temperatures as high as 2900 K in a Meteor Ablation Simulator (MASI), and the ablation of PO and Ca recorded simultaneously by laser induced fluorescence. Apatite grains were also ablated as a reference. The speciation of P in anhydrous chondritic porous Interplanetary Dust Particles was made by K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy, demonstrating that P mainly occurs in phosphate-like domains. A thermodynamic model of P in a silicate melt was then developed for inclusion in the Leeds Chemical Ablation Model (CABMOD). A Regular Solution model used to describe the distribution of P between molten stainless steel and a multicomponent slag is shown to provide the most accurate solution for a chondritic-composition, and reproduces satisfactorily the PO ablation profiles observed in the MASI. Meteoritic P is moderately volatile and ablates before refractory metals such as Ca; its ablation efficiency in the upper atmosphere is similar to Ni and Fe. The speciation of evaporated P depends significantly on the oxygen fugacity, and P should mainly be injected into planetary upper atmospheres as PO2, which will then likely undergo dissociation to PO (and possibly P) through hyperthermal collisions with air molecules. The global P ablation rates are estimated to be 0.017 t d−1 (tonnes per Earth day), 1.15 × 10−3 t d−1 and 0.024 t d−1 for Earth, Mars and Venus, respectively.
Journal Keywords: Cosmic dust; Planetary atmospheres; Ablation; Phosphorus thermodynamics; Zodiacal cloud
Diamond Keywords: Cosmic Dust
Subject Areas:
Earth Science,
Chemistry
Instruments:
I08-Scanning X-ray Microscopy beamline (SXM)
Added On:
15/04/2020 10:51
Discipline Tags:
Earth Sciences & Environment
Atmospheric Processes
Geology
Geochemistry
Planetary Geology
Technical Tags:
Microscopy
X-ray Microscopy
Scanning X-ray Microscopy