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doi: 10.7185/geochemlet.1703 The processes associated with magma ocean formation and solidification can control the earliest compositional differentiation and volatile inventory of planetary bodies. Thus, elucidating the scale and extent to which magma oceans existed in the Solar System is critical for a full understanding of planet formation. Here we show that the magnesium isotope compositions of the co-magmatic diogenite and eucrite meteorites originating from the protoplanet Vesta are distinct and this is a predictable consequence of extensive crystallisation in a shallow magma ocean. The enrichment in the heavy magnesium isotopes observed in eucrites relative to diogenites is consistent with the isotopic differences measured between minerals and whole-rock basalts on Earth and other asteroids. This isotope effect is not readily observed on Earth due to the lower primary melt magnesium contents produced at smaller degrees of melting and less extensive amounts of mafic mineral crystallisation. However, it is discernible on other planetary bodies where magma oceans formed and crystallised and, thus, Mg isotopes provide a tracer of their previous existence. Received 1 June 2016 | Accepted 15 August 2016 | Published 1 September 2016

Tracking the formation of magma oceans in the Solar System using stable magnesium isotopes