Interstellar Ices as Carriers of Supernova Material to the Early Solar System

TL;DR

This study provides evidence that interstellar ices carried supernova-produced isotopes into the early Solar System, influencing the isotopic composition of planetary materials and supporting models of thermal processing in the protoplanetary disk.

Contribution

It demonstrates the incorporation of supernova nuclides into interstellar ices and links this to the isotopic variability observed in Solar System materials.

Findings

Extreme $^{96}$Zr enrichments in alteration minerals indicate supernova material incorporation.

Solar System zirconium isotope variability results from mixing of supernova-laden ices with rocky material.

Supernova nuclides in volatile carriers support models of thermal processing in the protoplanetary disk.

Abstract

Planetary materials show systematic variations in their nucleosynthetic isotope compositions that resonate with orbital distance. The origin of this pattern remains debated, limiting how these isotopic signatures can be used to trace the precursors of terrestrial planets. Here we test the hypothesis that interstellar ices carried supernova-produced nuclides by searching for a supernova nucleosynthetic fingerprint in aqueous alteration minerals from carbonaceous and non-carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. We focus on zirconium, a refractory element that includes the neutron-rich isotope $^{96}$Zr formed in core-collapse supernovae. Leaching experiments reveal extreme $^{96}$Zr enrichments in alteration minerals, showing that they incorporated supernova material hosted in interstellar ices. We show that the Solar System's zirconium isotope variability reflects mixing between these ices and an ice-free rocky component. Finally, the presence of supernova nuclides in a volatile carrier supports models where the Solar System's nucleosynthetic variability was imparted by thermal processing of material in the protoplanetary disk and during planetary accretion.