The researchers also noted less of the rare isotope Kr-86 in the deep mantle compared to known meteorites. The deficit in Kr-86 suggests that known meteorites alone may not account for all the ...

Detecting this isotope, though, is extremely challenging. Krypton accounts for one part per million of all atoms in the atmosphere, and less than one in every trillion of those is an atom of 81 Kr.

Krypton remains inert over millennia so that the ratio of Kr isotopes trapped within these meteorites reflects the chemical composition of the volatile compounds that joined the Martian atmosphere ...

Surprisingly, the krypton isotopes in the meteorite correspond to those originating from meteorites, not the solar nebula. That means that meteorites were delivering volatile elements to the forming ...

Because the NSCL is the nation’s premier rare isotope accelerator, it’s capable of shooting 100 billion krypton atoms a second. Even then, Ni-78 only shows up about twice a day.

Now, Sandrine Péron at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and Sujoy Mukhopadhyay at the University of California, Davis, have analysed a sample from Chassigny to look at isotopes of krypton – another ...

The pair found krypton isotope ratios indicating volatiles originating from chondritic sources instead of those associated with the solar nebula.

“Ours is the first study to precisely measure all krypton isotopes for the mantle, including the rarest krypton isotopes, Kr-78 and Kr-80,” she said. Building a planet ...

Instead, the krypton isotopes suggest planetesimals from the cold outer solar system bombarded the Earth early on, millions of years before the big crunch.

Instead, the krypton isotopes suggest planetesimals from the cold outer solar system bombarded the Earth early on, millions of years before the big crunch.