Late fluid flow in a primitive asteroid revealed by Lu–Hf isotopes in Ryugu

Abstract

Carbonaceous asteroids are the source of the most primitive meteorites¹ and represent leftover planetesimals that formed from ice and dust in the outer Solar System and may have delivered volatiles to the terrestrial planets^{2, 3, 4–5}. Understanding the aqueous activity of asteroids is key to deciphering their thermal, chemical and orbital evolution, with implications for the origin of water on the terrestrial planets. Analyses of the objects, in particular pristine samples returned from asteroid Ryugu, have provided detailed information on fluid–rock interactions within a few million years after parent-body formation^{6, 7, 8, 9, 10–11}. However, the long-term fate of asteroidal water remains poorly understood. Here we present evidence for fluid flow in a carbonaceous asteroid more than 1 billion years after formation, based on the ¹⁷⁶Lu–¹⁷⁶Hf decay systematics of Ryugu samples, which reflect late lutetium mobilization. Such late fluid flow was probably triggered by an impact that generated heat for ice melting and opened rock fractures for fluid migration. This contrasts the early aqueous activity powered by short-lived radioactive decay, with limited fluid flow and little elemental fractionation¹². Our results imply that carbonaceous planetesimals accreted by the terrestrial planets could have retained not only hydrous minerals but also aqueous water, leading to an upwards revision of the inventory of their water delivery by a factor of two to three.