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

Abstract

We have just completed a series of determinations of the CH3D/CH4 ratio in the atmospheres of Saturn1,2, Titan3,4 and Uranus1,3. 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.