Deuterium in the outer Solar System: evidence for two distinct reservoirs

1 March 1986

journal article
letter
Published by Springer Nature in Nature

Vol. 320 (6059) , 244-246
https://doi.org/10.1038/320244a0

Abstract

We have just completed a series of determinations of the CH₃D/CH₄ ratio in the atmospheres of Saturn^1,2, Titan^3,4 and Uranus^1,3. These results, coupled with the work of other investigators, suggest that the Solar System contains at least two distinctly different primordial reservoirs of deuterium: that contained in gaseous hydrogen and that contained in the volatiles which have been maintained at low temperatures or isolated from hydrogen; for example, trapped in cold, solid material. Both of these reservoirs were established before the formation of the Solar System.

Keywords

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