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Hydrogen Isotopes

Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

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Definition

Hydrogen (symbol, H; atomic mass, 1.00794) has three isotopes. Two are stable in natural environments and are denoted as 11 H and 21 H (deuterium or D). The third isotope 31 H (tritium or T) is unstable and decays to 3He with a half-life of 12.32 years. Being hydrogen one of the water-forming elements, its isotopic ratio D/H has been used for identifying the origin of water within the Solar System. Particularly, the chondritic D/H ratio measured in meteorites and Antarctic micrometeorites (143–170 × 10−6) is closer to the value of the bulk Earth (149–153 × 10−6) and the present-day ocean (155.7 × 10−6) than the comets (298–324 × 10−6). This is the isotopic evidence often used for claiming that water on Earth has been delivered by chondritic planetesimals rather than comets.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GEOTOP Research Center for Geochemistry and Geodynamics, Université du Québec à Montréal, CP 8888, succ. Centre-Ville, H3C 3P8, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Daniele L. Pinti

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  1. Daniele L. Pinti
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Correspondence to Daniele L. Pinti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Pinti, D.L. (2014). Hydrogen Isotopes. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_753-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_753-4

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Hydrogen Isotopes
    Published:
    07 December 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_753-5

  2. Original

    Hydrogen Isotopes
    Published:
    15 April 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_753-4

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