Sulfur isotopic signature of Earth established by planetesimal volatile evaporation

Abstract

How and when Earth’s volatile content was established is controversial with several mechanisms postulated, including planetesimal evaporation, core formation and the late delivery of undifferentiated chondrite-like materials. The isotopes of volatile elements such as sulfur can be fractionated during planetary accretion and differentiation and thus are potential tracers of these processes. Using first-principles calculations, we examine sulfur isotope fractionation during core formation and planetesimal evaporation. We find no measurable sulfur isotope fractionation between silicate and metallic melts at core-forming conditions, indicating that the observed light sulfur isotope composition of the bulk silicate Earth relative to chondrites cannot be explained by metal–silicate fractionation. Our thermodynamic calculations show that sulfur evaporates mostly as H2S during planetesimal evaporation when nebular H2 is present. The observed bulk Earth sulfur isotope signature and abundance can be reproduced by evaporative loss of about 90% sulfur mainly as H2S from molten planetesimals before nebular H2 is dissipated. The heavy sulfur isotope composition of the Moon relative to the Earth is consistent with evaporative sulfur loss under 94–98% saturation condition during the Moon-forming giant impact. In summary, volatile evaporation from molten planetesimals before Earth’s formation probably played a key role in establishing Earth’s volatile element content. Earth’s volatile element content was established largely by volatile evaporation from molten planetesimals before Earth’s formation, according to first-principles calculations and examination of sulfur isotope fractionation.