Search for: All records

Abstract While modeling the galactic chemical evolution (GCE) of stable elements provides insights to the formation history of the Galaxy and the relative contributions of nucleosynthesis sites, modeling the evolution of short-lived radioisotopes (SLRs) can provide supplementary timing information on recent nucleosynthesis. To study the evolution of SLRs, we need to understand their spatial distribution. Using a three-dimensional GCE model, we investigated the evolution of four SLRs:⁵³Mn,⁶⁰Fe,¹⁸²Hf, and²⁴⁴Pu with the aim of explaining detections of recent (within the last ≈1–20 Myr) deposition of live⁵³Mn,⁶⁰Fe, and²⁴⁴Pu of extrasolar origin into deep-sea reservoirs. We find that core-collapse supernovae are the dominant propagation mechanism of SLRs in the Galaxy. This results in the simultaneous arrival of these four SLRs on Earth, although they could have been produced in different astrophysical sites, which can explain why live extrasolar⁵³Mn,⁶⁰Fe, and²⁴⁴Pu are found within the same, or similar, layers of deep-sea sediments. We predict that¹⁸²Hf should also be found in such sediments at similar depths.