Our new paper, led by postdoctoral scholar Dr. Sandrine Péron on the krypton isotopic composition of mantle plumes is out. The research provides evidence for very early accretion of carbonaceous materials by Earth along with a nucleosynthetic anomaly in a neutron-rich krypton isotope. You can read a short synopsis here.
The continental sized provinces at the base of the mantle were recently proposed to the remnants of Theia, the protoplanet that struck the Earth to form the Moon 4.5 billion years ago. But are other explanations for these provinces possible? See the discussion in Science.
Dr. Sandrine Péron has received a Marie Curie Fellowship, which she will take to ETH in September 2021.
Dr. Curtis Williams is set to become the new NSF program director for EAR. He will be leaving for DC in September 2020.
Michael Huh has been awarded the highly competitive ARCs Foundation Scholarship.
Research by our group about the nature of the deep Earth, led by Dr. Curtis Williams, was recently featured in the Atlantic Magazine.
In celebration of 150 years of Mendeleev's periodic table, I did a short fun little youtube video that you can check out from this UC Davis website.
Cole Bishop has been awarded the Livermore Graduate Scholar Fellowship. Way to go Cole!
Research about the antiquity of the continental sized large low shear wave velocity provinces at the core-mantle boundary was published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: Primitive helium is sourced from seismically slow regions in the lowermost mantle by Curtis Williams, Sujoy Mukhopadhyay, Maxwell Rudolph and Barbara Romanowicz, and was featured in GeoSpace.
Dr. Sandrine Peron was award the Pete Burnard prize that recognizes an early-career scientist (max 4 years after PhD), who has made a significant contribution to the analytical development and advancement of noble gas measurements.
Reproducibility (standard deviation) of Ne isotopic ratios based on repeat analysis of 1.6 × 10-14 moles of Ne in Air standards. The neon isotopes were measured simultaneously on 3 multipliers and with doubly charged 40Ar++ resolved from 20Ne+. The analysis lasts 20 minutes.
 | 1σ = 0.008 |
| 20Ne/22Ne: Reproducibility = 0.8 permil | |
 | 1σ = 0.00010 |
| 21Ne/22Ne: Reproducibility = 3.6 permil | |
Reproducibility (standard deviation) of Ne isotopic ratios using similar procedures as the standards above but based on repeat analysis of 1.4 × 10-15 moles of Ne in Air standards .
 | 1σ = 0.011 |
| 20Ne/22Ne: Reproducibility = 1.1 permil | |
 | 1σ = 0.00023 |
| 21Ne/22Ne: Reproducibility = 7.8 permil | |
Reproducibility of Xe isotopic ratios based on repeat analyses of only 7.6 x 10-17 moles of Xe in Air standards. Each analysis, which measured all nine xenon isotopes, had two steps and lasted less than 25 minutes. Significant improvements in the precision of the measurement of rare xenon isotopes are observed compared to analyses made with a single, three, or five multiplier instrument. The average 124Xe counts in the Air standards were 2.1 cps.
 |  |
| 124Xe/130Xe: Reproducibility = 1.6 percent
| 126Xe/130Xe: Reproducibility = 1.7 percent
|
 |  |
| 128Xe/130Xe: Reproducibility = 5.9 permil
| 129Xe/130Xe: Reproducibility = 3.4 permil
|
 |  |
| 136Xe/130Xe: Reproducibility = 4 permil
| 129Xe/132Xe: Reproducibility = 1.4 permil
|
 | |
| 136Xe/132Xe: Reproducibility = 2.3 permil
|
Reproducibility of Xe isotopic ratios based on repeat analyses of 1.4 x 10-16 moles of Xe in Air standards. Each analysis, which measured all nine xenon isotopes, had three steps. Excellent reproducibility is observed for the isotopic ratios although the reproducibility of the rare isotopes are comparable to the six multiplier system even with twice as large an Air shot. The average 124Xe counts in the Air standards were 4 cps.
 |  |
| 124Xe/130Xe: Reproducibility = 1.8 percent
| 126Xe/130Xe: Reproducibility = 1.7 percent
|
 |  |
| 128Xe/130Xe: Reproducibility = 3.8 permil
| 129Xe/130Xe: Reproducibility = 2.4 permil
|
 |  |
| 136Xe/130Xe: Reproducibility = 2.6 permil
| 129Xe/132Xe: Reproducibility = 1.5 permil
|
 | |
| 136Xe/132Xe: Reproducibility = 1.4 permil
|
Reproducibility of Kr isotopic ratios based on repeat analyses of 1.9 x 10-15 moles of Kr in Air standards over a 3 week period. Isotopic ratios were measured using five multipliers simultaneously.
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Reproducibility = 3.4 permil | Reproducibility = 2.3 permil |
 |  |  |
Reproducibility = 0.9 permil | Reproducibility = 0.7 permil | Reproducibility = 0.5 permil |
More data coming soon.
Automated bakeout system for the in-vacuo crushers and the UHV line controlled by the cRIO system. The bakeout system consists of Sorenson’s remote controlled power supplies (pictured above) interfaced with several T-type thermocouples.
National Instrument’s cRIO system that interfaces with the valves, pumps, pressure gauges, thermocouples, power supplies and the quadrupole mass spectrometer on the UHV line.
Mars interior accreted chondritic volatiles in the presence of the solar nebula. Péron S. and Mukhopadhyay S., in review.
Deep mantle krypton reveals Earth’s early accretion of carbonaceous matter. Péron S., Mukhopadhyay S., Kurz M. D., Graham D.W., in review.
Incompatibility of argon during magma ocean crystallization. Jackson C. R. M., Williams C. D., Du Z., Bennett N. R., Mukhopadhyay S., Fei Y., Earth Planet Sci Lett 553, 116598, 2021.
Capture of nebular gases during Earth’s accretion. Williams C. D. and Mukhopadhyay S., Nature 565, 78-81, 2019.
Atmospheric impact losses. Schlichting H. and Mukhopadhyay. Space Science Reviews 214, doi:10.1007/s11214-018-0417-z, 2018.
Preservation of Earth-forming events in the tungsten isotopic composition of modern flood basalts. Rizo, H., Walker, R. J., Carlson, R. W., Horan, M. F., Mukhopadhyay, S. , Manthos, V., Francis, D. and Jackson, M. G. Science 352, 809-812, doi:10.1126/science.aad8563, 2016.
Evidence for multiple magma ocean outgassing and atmospheric loss episodes from mantle noble gases. Tucker, J. M. and Mukhopadhyay, S. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 393, 254-265, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2014.02.050, 2014.
How did early Earth become our modern world? Carlson, R.W., Garnero, E., Harrison, T.M., Li, J., Manga, M., McDonough, W.F., Mukhopadhyay, S., Romanowicz, B., Rubie, D., Williams, Q. and Zhong, S. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 42, 51-178, doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-060313-055016, 2014.
Heterogeneities from the first 100 million years recorded in deep mantle noble gases from the Northern Lau Back-arc Basin. Pető, M., S. Mukhopadhyay, and K. A. Kelley. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 369-370, 13-23, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.02.012, 2013.
Early differentiation and volatile accretion recorded in deep mantle neon and xenon. Mukhopadhyay, S., Nature, 486, 101-104, doi:10.1038/nature11141, 2012.
Isotopic compositions of cometary matter returned by Stardust. McKeegan K.D, et al. Science 314, 1724-1728, doi:10.1126/science.1135992, 2006.
Interstellar chemistry recorded in organic matter from primitive meteorites. Busemann H., A. F. Young, C. M. O. Alexander, P. Hoppe, S. Mukhopadhyay, and L. R. Nittler, Science 312, 727-730, doi:10.1126/science.1123878, 2006.
Heavy noble gas signatures of the North Atlantic popping rock 2PD43: Implications for mantle noble gas heterogeneity. Parai R. and Mukhopadhyay S., Geochim Cosmochim Acta 294, 89-105, 2021.
The emerging portrait of an ancient, heterogeneous and continuously evolving mantle plume source. Parai R., Mukhopadhyay S., Tucker J. M., and Peto M.K., Lithos 346-347, doi:doi.org10.1016/lithos.2091.105133, 2019.
Primitive helium in oceanic basalts originate from seismically slow regions at the core-mantle boundary. Williams C. D., Mukhopadhyay S., Rudoplp M. L., and Romanowicz B. Geochemistry, Geophsics, Geosystems, doi:10.1029/2019GC008437, 2019.
A record of Earth’s evolution and mantle dynamics. Mukhopadhyay S. and Parai R., Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 47, 389-417, 2019.
Reconstructing mantle carbon and noble gas contents from degassed mid-ocean ridge basalts. Tucker J. M., Mukhopadhyay S., and Gonnermann H. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 496, 108-119, 2018.
The evolution of MORB and plume mantle volatile budgets: Constraints from fission Xe isotopes in Southwest Indian Ridge basalts. Parai, R. and Mukhopadhyay, S. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 16, 719-735, doi:10.1002/2014GC005566, 2015.
147Sm-143Nd systematics of Earth are inconsistent with a superchondritic Sm/Nd ratio. Huang, S., S. B. Jacobsen, S. Mukhopadhyay, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, 4919-4934, doi:10.1073/pnas.1222252110, 2013.
Early differentiation and volatile accretion recorded in deep mantle neon and xenon. Mukhopadhyay, S., Nature, 486, 101-104, doi:10.1038/nature11141, 2012.
Heterogeneous upper mantle Ne, Ar and Xe isotopic compositions and a possible Dupal noble gas signature recorded in basalts from the Southwest Indian Ridge. Parai, R., S. Mukhopadhyay, and J. Standish, Earth and Planetary Science Letters 359-360, 227-239, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2012.10.017, 2012.
The heavy noble gas composition of the depleted MORB mantle (DMM) and its implications for the preservation of heterogeneities in the mantle. Tucker, J. M., S. Mukhopadhyay, and J.-G. Schilling, Earth and Planetary Science Letters 355-356, 244-254, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2012.08.025, 2012.
Preserving high concentrations of noble gases in a convecting mantle. Gonnermann, H. M., and S. Mukhopadhyay, Nature 459, 560-563, doi:10.1038/nature08018, 2009.
New constraints on the HIMU mantle source from Helium and Neon Isotopic composition of basalts from the Cook-Austral Islands. Parai, R., S. Mukhopadhyay, and J. C. Lassiter, Earth and Planetary Science Letters 277, 253-261, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.10.014, 2009.
Non-equilibrium degassing and a primordial source for helium in ocean-island volcanism. Gonnermann, H. M., and S. Mukhopadhyay, Nature 449, 1037-1040, doi:10.1038/nature06240, 2007.
Linked convective cycling of water, chlorine and noble gases through Earth’s mantle, Tucker J. M., Mukhopadhyay S., Huh M., Langmuir C. H., Hauri E. H., in review.
Xenon isotopic constraints on the history of volatile recycling into the mantle. Parai R. and Mukhopadhyay S., Nature 560, 223-227, 2018.
The emerging portrait of an ancient, heterogeneous and continuously evolving mantle plume source. Parai R., Mukhopadhyay S., Tucker J. M., and Peto M.K., Lithos 346-347, doi:doi.org10.1016/lithos.2091.105133, 2019.
Hydrothermal deposition on the Jua de Fuca Ridge over multiple glacial-interglacial cycles. Costa K. M., McManus J. F., Middleton J. L., Lanmuir C. L., Huybers P., Winckler G., and Mukhopadhyay S. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 479, 120-132, 2017.
Hydrothermal iron flux variability following rapid sea level changes.Middleton, J. L., Langmuir, C. H., Mukhopadhyay, S. , McManus, J. F., and Mitrovica, J. X. Geophysical Research Letters 43, doi:10.1002/2016GL068408, 2016.
Covariation of climate and long-term erosion rates across a steep rainfall gradient on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i. Ferrier, K. L., Perron, J. T., Mukhopadhyay, S., Rosener, M., Stock, J. D., Huppert, K. L. and Slosberg, M. GSA Bulletin 125, 1146-1163, doi:10.1130/B30726.1, 2013.
How large is the subducted water flux? New constraints on mantle regassing rates. Parai, R., and S. Mukhopadhyay, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 317-318, 396-406, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.11.024, 2012.
