Evidence for an Ancient Osmium Isotopic Reservoir in Earth

Abstract

Iridosmine grains from placer deposits associated with peridotite-bearing ophiolites in the Klamath mountains have extremely radiogenic ¹⁸⁶Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratios and old Re-Os minimum ages, from 256 to 2644 million years. This indicates the existence of an ancient platinum group element reservoir with a supra-chondritic Pt/Os ratio. Such a ratio may be produced in the outer core as a result of inner core crystallization that fractionates Os from Pt. However, if the iridosmine Os isotopic compositions are a signature of the outer core, then the inner core must have formed very early, within several hundred million years after the accretion of Earth.