Publications by authors named "Martin F Miller"
Article Synopsis
- The Earth-Moon system likely formed from a colossal collision between two planetary objects, and ongoing debates center around their masses and the impact's energy.
- A high-precision study of oxygen isotopes found a small but significant difference between lunar rocks and terrestrial basalts, suggesting nearly complete mixing during the impact.
- The research implies that most of Earth's water was already present before this giant impact, contradicting previous theories that suggested it was primarily added afterward.
Oxygen isotope anomaly not present in water vapor from Alert, Canada.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
November 2013
Mass-independent fractionation of oxygen isotopes during thermal decomposition of carbonates.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
August 2002
Nearly all chemical processes fractionate 17O and 18O in a mass-dependent way relative to 16O, a major exception being the formation of ozone from diatomic oxygen in the presence of UV radiation or electrical discharge. Investigation of oxygen three-isotope behavior during thermal decomposition of naturally occurring carbonates of calcium and magnesium in vacuo has revealed that, surprisingly, anomalous isotopic compositions are also generated during this process. High-precision measurements of the attendant three-isotope fractionation line, and consequently the magnitude of the isotopic anomaly (delta17O), demonstrate that the slope of the line is independent of the nature of the carbonate but is controlled by empirical factors relating to the decomposition procedure.
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