Carbynes in meteorites: detection, low-temperature origin, and implications for interstellar molecules

Carbon from the Allende meteorite is not graphite but carbyne (triply bonded elemental carbon), inasmuch as on heating to 250 degrees to 330 degrees C it releases mainly triply bonded fragments: -(C identical withC)(n),- with n = 1 to 5, and -(C identical withC)(n)-CN, with n = 1 to 3. Although carbynes have been known to form only by condensation of carbon vapor above 2600 K or by explosive shock of > 600 kilobars, it is found that they also form metastably by the reaction 2CO --> CO(2) + C (solid) at 300 degrees to 400 degrees C in the presence of a chromite catalyst. Such low-temperature formation by surface catalysis may be the dominant source of carbynes on the earth and in meteorites, and a major source of interstellar carbynes and cyanopolyacetylenes.     

Amino Acid analyses of the murchison, murray, and allende carbonaceous chondrites

Three carbonaceous chondrites were examined for water-extractable amino acids. The Murchison Murray specimens were found to be of similar amino acid composition. This similarity suggests that these amino acids in are indigenous to type II carbonaceous chondrites. The Allende (type III) carbonaceous chondrite was found to be essentially devoid of amino acids on the basis of on identical analysis.     

Barium isotopes in allende meteorite: evidence against an extinct superheavy element

Carbon and chromite fractions from the Allende meteorite that contain isotopically anomalous xenon-131 to xenon-136 (carbonaceous chondrite fission or CCF xenon) at up to 5 x 10(11) atoms per gram show no detectable isotopic anomalies in barium-130 to barium-138. This rules out the possibility that the CCF xenon was formed by in situ fission of an extinct superheavy element. Apparently the CCF xenon and its carbonaceous carrier are relics from stellar nucleosynthesis.     

Evidence of thermal metamorphism on the C, g, B, and f asteroids

Reflectance spectra (0.3 to 2.6 micrometers) of 14 C, G, B, and F asteroids and 21 carbonaceous chondrite powders are compared in detail. Only three thermally metamorphosed CM-Cl chondrites that have a weak ultraviolet absorption are shown to have close counterparts among those asteroids. Reflectance spectra of heated Murchison CM2 chondrite are compared with the average C and G type asteroid spectra. Murchison heated at 600 degrees to 1000 degrees C exhibits a similar weak ultraviolet absorption and provides the best analog for those spectra. Comparison of ultraviolet absorption strengths between 160 C, G, B, and F asteroids and carbonaceous chondrites suggests that surface minerals of most of those asteroids are thermally metamorphosed at temperatures around 600 degrees to 1000 degrees C.     

Interstellar carbon in meteorites

The Murchison and Allende chondrites contain up to 5 parts per million carbon that is enriched in carbon-13 by up to + 1100 per mil (the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 is approximately 42, compared to 88 to 93 for terrestrial carbon). This "heavy" carbon is associated with neon-22 and with anomalous krypton and xenon showing the signature of the s-process (neutron capture on a slow time scale). It apparently represents interstellar grains ejected from late-type stars. A second anomalous xenon component ("CCFXe") is associated with a distinctive, light carbon (depleted in carbon-13 by 38 per mil), which, however, falls within the terrestrial range and hence may be of either local or exotic origin.     

Incorporation of short-lived (10)Be in a calcium-aluminum-rich inclusion from the allende meteorite

Enrichments in boron-10/boron-11 in a calcium-aluminum-rich inclusion from the Allende carbonaceous chondrite are correlated with beryllium/boron in a manner indicative of the in situ decay of short-lived beryllium-10. Because this radionuclide is produced only by nuclear spallation reactions, its existence in early solar system materials attests to intense irradiation processes in the solar nebula. The particle fluence inferred from the initial beryllium-10/beryllium-9 is sufficient to produce other short-lived nuclides, calcium-41 and manganese-53, found in meteorites, but the high canonical abundance of aluminum-26 may still require seeding of the solar system by radioactive stellar debris.     

Phenolic ethers in the organic polymer of the murchison meteorite

Seven phenolic acids and many nonphenolic organic acids, including large amounts of meta-hydroxy (3-hydroxy) benzoic acid and 3-hydroxy-1,5-benzene-dicarboxylic acid, were obtained from the organic polymer of the Murchison C2 chondrite upon oxidation with alkaline cupric oxide. The phenolic acids apparently were derived from phenolic ethers in the polymer, which in turn probably were formed from carbon monoxide and hydrogen by catalytic Fischer-Tropsch type reactions in the solar nebula. In contrast, terrestrial polymers such as lignin, humic acid, and coal yield mainly para-hydroxy (4-hydroxy) benzene derivatives by the same oxidation procedure.     

Allende meteorite: a high-voltage electron petrographic study

Electron-transparent sections of the Allende meteorite, a carbonaceous chondrite, have been prepared by ion-thinning and examined by high-voltage (800-kilovolt) transmission electron microscopy. The matrix crystals, mainly olivine, range in size from approximately 5 to approximately 0.01 micrometers; carbon is present as intergranular films of poorly crystalline graphite. The chondrules exhibit extensive radiation damage, a feature lacking in the matrix. In addition, both chondrules and matrix are undeformed and contain negative crystals; submicroscopic exsolution lamellae are present in pyroxenes. Comparison of the substructure in the Allende meteorite with that in the Parnallee meteorite and in lunar and selected terrestrial rocks leads to the conclusion that chondrule irradiation preceded cold accretion during formation of the solar system and that the meteorite has since been undisturbed.     

Graphitic carbon in the Allende meteorite: a microstructural study

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy, shows that carbon in the Allende carbonaceous chondrite meteorite is predominantly a poorly crystalline graphite. Such material is of interest as an important carrier of the isotopically anomalous noble gases found in carbonaceous chondrites.     

Meteorite fail at pueblito de allende, chihuahua, Mexico: preliminary information

Specimens from the meteorite fall at 1:05 a. m., on 8 February 1969 at Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico, have been recovered. The meteorite is a chondrite (C3 and C4) with both opaque and microcrystalline matrices. Specimens were brought to a low background gamma counter less than 4 (1/2) days after the fall, and gamma rays from short-lived isotopes have been observed.     

Samarium-146 in the early solar system: evidence from neodymium in the allende meteorite

A carbon-chromite fraction from the Allende C3V chondrite shows strikingly large isotopic enrichments of neodymium-142 (0.47 percent) and neodymium- 143 (36 percent). Both apparently formed by alpha decay of samarium-146 and samarium-147 (half-lives 1.03 x 10(8) and 1.06 x 10(11) years), but the isotopic enrichment was greatly magnified by recoil of residual nuclei into a carbon film surrounding the samarium-bearing grains. These data provide an improved estimate of the original abundance of extinct samarium-146 in the early solar system [(146)Sm/(144)Sm = (4.5 +/- 0.5) x 10(-3)], higher than predicted by some models of pprocess nucleosynthesis. It may be possible to use this isotopic pair as a chronometer of the early solar system.     

Melting relations of the aliende meteorite

The proportions of major oxides in the Allende carbonaceous chondrite after partial reduction are remarkably similar to those in possible mantle material of the earth. When heated, the Allende meteorite generates a sulfide melt (47 percent iron, 25 percent nickel, and 24 percent sulfur by weight), a ferrobasaltic melt, and olivine with or without pyroxene, over a wide pressure range (5 to 25 kilobars). The silicate melt contains more sodium and less titanium than lunar ferrobasalts. An aggregate of the Allende chondrite rich in calcium and aluminum produces silica-undersaturated, calcium-rich melt and spinel over a wide pressure and temperature range. From these studies, it is suggested that the earth's core contains significant amounts of both nickel and sulfur and that a 3 : 2 mixture of Allende bulk sample and calcium- and aluminum-rich aggregates is closer in major element abundances than either of these components to the average composition of the moon.     

The formation of chondrules at high gas pressures in the solar nebula

High-precision magnesium isotope measurements of whole chondrules from the Allende carbonaceous chondrite meteorite show that some aluminum-rich Allende chondrules formed at or near the time of formation of calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions and that some others formed later and incorporated precursors previously enriched in magnesium-26. Chondrule magnesium-25/magnesium-24 correlates with [magnesium]/[aluminum] and size, the aluminum-rich, smaller chondrules being the most enriched in the heavy isotopes of magnesium. These relations imply that high gas pressures prevailed during chondrule formation in the solar nebula.     

Silicon in carbonaceous chondrite metal: relic of high-temperature condensation

Electron microprobe analyses of an extraordinarily large metal grain from the Murchison type 2 carbonaceous chondrite gave 0.24 mole percent silicon. Thermodynamic calculations show that this is a natural consequence of condensation of alloys from the solar nebular gas at a total pressure l0(-5) less, similar P(tot) < l0(-3) atmosphere, provided they failed to equilibrate with it after cooling to < 1200 kelvins.     

Chondrites: initial strontium-87/strontium-86 ratios and the early history of the solar system

A sodium-poor, calcium-rich inclusion in the carbonaceous chondrite Allende had a (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratio at the time of its formation of 0.69880, as low a value as that found in any other meteorite. The higher (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratios found in ordinary chondrites indicate that their formation or isotopic equilibration occurred tens of millions of years later.     

Amino acids indigenous to the murray meteorite

Analysis of the Murray meteorite, a type II carbonaceous chondrite, has led to the identification of 17 amino acids. For seven of the amino acids nearly equal amounts of the D and L isomers are present, and 11 of the amino acids are not found in protein. These results suggest that these amino acids, like the amino acids of the Murchison meteorite, are extraterrestrial in origin.     

Noble Gases in the Murchison Meteorite: Possible Relics of s-Process Nucleosynthesis

The Murchison carbonaceous chondrite contains a new type of xenon component, enriched by up to 50 percent in five of the nine stable xenon isotopes, mass numbers 128 to 132. This component, comprising 5 x 10(-5) of the total xenon in the meteorite, is released at 1200 degrees to 1600 degrees C from a severely etched mineral fraction, and probably resides in some refractory mineral. Krypton shows a similar but smaller enrichment in the isotopes 80 and 82. Neon and helium released in the same interval also are quite anomalous, being highly enriched in the isotopes 22 and 3. These patterns are strongly suggestive of three nuclear processes believed to take place in red giants: the s process (neutron capture on a slow time scale), helium burning, and hydrogen shell burning. If this interpretation is correct, then primitive meteorites contain yet another kind of alien, presolar material: dust grains ejected from red giants.     

Partial Melting of the Aliende (CV3) Meteorite: Implications for Origins of Basaltic Meteorites

Eucrites and angrites are distinct types of basaltic meteorites whose origins are poorly known. Experiments in which samples of the Allende (CV3) carbonaceous chondrite were partially melted indicate that partial melts can resemble either eucrites or angrites, depending only on the oxygen fugacity (fo(2)). Melts are eucritic if thefo(2) is below that of the iron-wüstite buffer or angritic if above the fo(2) of that buffer. With changing pressure, the graphite-oxygen redox reaction can produce oxygen fugacities that are above or below those of the iron-wüstite buffer. Therefore, a single, homogeneous, carbonaceous planetoid >110 kilometers in radius could produce melts of drastically different composition, depending on the depth of melting.     

Carbyne forms of carbon: do they exist?

Almost 15 years have passed since carbynes entered the literature as new forms of elemental carbon. They recently attracted attention as possible interstellar dust constituents and as carriers of presolar noble gases in meteorites. Their existence and that of the related mineral chaoite are questioned, and a reevaluation of previous data is suggested.     

Chondrite barium, neodymium, and samarium isotopic heterogeneity and early Earth differentiation

Isotopic variability in barium, neodymium, and samarium in carbonaceous chondrites reflects the distinct stellar nucleosynthetic contributions to the early solar system. We used 148Nd/144Nd to correct for the observed s-process deficiency, which produced a chondrite 146Sm-142Nd isochron consistent with previous estimates of the initial solar system abundance of 146Sm and a 142Nd/144Nd at average chondrite Sm/Nd ratio that is lower than that measured in terrestrial rocks by 21 +/- 3 parts per million. This result strengthens the conclusion that the deficiency in 142Nd in chondrites relative to terrestrial rocks reflects 146Sm decayand earlyplanetary differentiation processes.