Elemental and isotopic variability in solar system materials by mixing and processing of primordial disk reservoirs

Isotope anomalies among planetary bodies provide key constraints on planetary genetics and the solar system's dynamical evolution. However, to unlock the full potential of these anomalies for constraining the processing, mixing, and transport of material in the disk it is essential to identify the main components responsible for producing planetary-scale isotope variations, and to investigate how they relate to the isotopic heterogeneity inherited from the solar system's parental molecular cloud. To address these issues we measured the Ti and Sr isotopic compositions of Ca,Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) from the Allende CV3 chondrite, as well as acid leachates and an insoluble residue from the Murchison CM2 chondrite, and combine these results with literature data for presolar grains, hibonites, chondrules, and bulk meteorites. Our analysis reveals that the internal mineral-scale nebular isotopic heterogeneity as sampled by leachates and presolar grains is largely decoupled from the planetary-scale isotope anomalies as sampled by bulk meteorites. We show that variable admixing of CAI-like refractory material to an average inner solar nebula component can explain the planetary-scale Ti and Sr isotope anomalies and the elemental and isotopic difference between non-carbonaceous (NC) and carbonaceous (CC) nebular reservoirs for these elements. Combining isotope anomaly data for a large number of elements (Ti, Sr, Ca, Cr, Ni, Zr, Mo, Ru, Ba, Nd, Sm, Hf, W, and Os) reveals that the offset of the CC from the NC reservoir towards the composition of CAIs is a general trend and not limited to refractory elements. This implies that the CC reservoir is the product of mixing between NC material and a reservoir (called IC for Inclusion-like Chondritic component) whose isotopic composition is similar to that of CAIs, but whose chemical composition is similar to bulk chondrites. In our preferred model, the distinct isotopic compositions of these two nebular reservoirs reflect an inherited heterogeneity of the solar system's parental molecular cloud core, which therefore has never been fully homogenized during collapse. Planetary-scale isotopic anomalies are thus caused by variable mixing of isotopically distinct primordial disk reservoirs, the selective processing of these reservoirs in different nebular environments, and the heterogeneous distribution of the thereby forming nebular products. (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.