TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pack, Andreas
A1  - Höweling, Andres
A1  - Hezel, Dominik C.
A1  - Stefanak, Maren T.
A1  - Beck, Anne-Katrin
A1  - Peters, Stefan T. M.
A1  - Sengupta, Sukanya
A1  - Herwartz, Daniel
A1  - Folco, Luigi
T1  - Tracing the oxygen isotope composition of the upper Earth's atmosphere using cosmic spherules
Y1  - 2017-06-01
VL  - 8
SP  - 15702
EP  - 15702
JF  - Nature communications
DO  - 10.1038/ncomms15702
DO  - 10.23689/fidgeo-2741
N2  - Molten I-type cosmic spherules formed by heating, oxidation and melting of extraterrestrial Fe,Ni metal alloys. The entire oxygen in these spherules sources from the atmosphere. Therefore, I-type cosmic spherules are suitable tracers for the isotopic composition of the upper atmosphere at altitudes between 80 and 115 km. Here we present data on I-type cosmic spherules collected in Antarctica. Their composition is compared with the composition of tropospheric O2. Our data suggest that the Earth's atmospheric O2 is isotopically homogenous up to the thermosphere. This makes fossil I-type micrometeorites ideal proxies for ancient atmospheric CO2 levels.
UR  - http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/7054
ER  -