Overview
- Researchers published a Science Advances paper using high‑pressure, high‑temperature lab experiments and numerical accretion models to map phosphorus‑to‑nitrogen (P/N) ratios across the early solar system.
- Iron meteorites record a first generation of planetesimals that had higher P/N in the outer disk and lower P/N inward, while younger chondrite sources show the opposite pattern.
- The team finds that Jupiter’s growth progressively restricted radial movement of phosphorus and nitrogen, reversing the P/N gradient between the two planetesimal generations.
- Geochemical accretion modeling shows Earth’s present P/N signature is best reproduced by material from inner‑solar‑system planetesimals rather than by late inward delivery of outer‑system chondrites.
- The result links the timing of planetesimal formation and giant‑planet dynamics to delivery of life‑essential elements and raises the question of whether planets without Jupiter‑like neighbors can reach similar CHNOPS budgets.