Lavas from Hawaiian volcano contain fingerprint of planetary formation

Now, a precision analysis of lava samples taken from the crater is giving scientists a new tool for reconstructing planetary origins. The results of the analysis, by the University of Chicago's Nicolas Dauphas and his associates, will be published in the June 20 issue of the journal Science.

A close examination of iron isotopes—the slight variations the element displays at the subatomic level—can tell planetary scientists more about the formation of crust than they previously thought, according to Dauphas and co-authors Fang-Zhen Teng of the University of Arkansas and Rosalind T. Helz of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Hikers visiting the Kilauea Iki crater in Hawaii today walk along a mostly flat surface of sparsely vegetated basalt. It looks like parking lot asphalt, but in November and December 1959, it emitted the orange glow of newly erupted lava.

Now, a precision analysis of lava samples taken from the crater is giving scientists a new tool for reconstructing planetary origins. The results of the analysis, by the University of Chicago's Nicolas Dauphas and his associates, will be published in the June 20 issue of the journal Science.

A close examination of iron isotopes—the slight variations the element displays at the subatomic level—can tell planetary scientists more about the formation of crust than they previously thought, according to Dauphas and co-authors Fang-Zhen Teng of the University of Arkansas and Rosalind T. Helz of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Isotopic studies have a long history at the University of Chicago. Harold Urey, who received the 1934 Nobel Prize in chemistry, established the principles governing isotopic variations as a faculty member at Chicago in the 1940s and 1950s, Dauphas said.

The researchers selected Kilauea Iki for their study because scientists have drilled it for samples multiple times as it cooled over the years. This sequence of samples makes the lava lake a perfect site for studying differentiation—the separation of minerals and elements as magma cools and hardens.

"Our work opens up exciting avenues of research," Dauphas said. "We can now use iron isotopes as fingerprints of magma formation and differentiation, which played a role in the formation of continents."-University of Chicago