Skip to main content
Article
Interstellar Fossil 26Mg and its Possible Relationship to Excess Meteoritic 26Mg
The Astrophysical Journal
  • Donald D Clayton, Clemson University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-1-1986
Publisher
The American Astronomical Society
Abstract

A plausible scenario is advanced for explainig a linear correlation found in some solar system solids between their Mg-26/Mg-24 isotopic ratios and their Al/Mg elemental abundance ratios. This scenario involves three stages: (1) the mechanical aggregation of an average ensemble of Al-bearing dust particles that is postulated to be modestly enriched in the Al/Mg abundance ratio because the aggregated particles themselves are; (2) the extraction, perhaps but not necessarily by hot distillation, of almost all Mg, leaving an aggregate with a large Al/Mg ratio and a large Mg-26 excess; and (3) the uptake of normal ambient Mg by the resulting hot Al-rich solid as it cools in Mg-rich vapor. A linear correlation in solids between their Mg-26/Mg-24 isotopic ratio and their aluminum enrichment may be a fossil correlation inherited from interstellar dust.

Citation Information
Please use publisher's recommended citation.