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.     

Hexagonal diamonds in meteorites: implications

A new polymorph of carbon, hexagonal diamond, has been discovered in the Canyon Diablo and Goalpara meteorites. This phase had been synthesized recently under specific high-pressure conditions in the laboratory. Our results: provide strong evidence that diamonds found in these meteorites were produced by intense shock pressures acting on crystalline graphite inclusions present within the meteorite before impact, rather than by disintegration of larger, statically grown diamonds, as some theories propose.     

Cliftonite in meteorites: a proposed origin

Cliftonite, a polycrystalline aggregate of graphite with cubic morphology, is known in ten meteorites. Some workers have considered it to be a pseudomorph after diamond, and have used the proposed diamond ancestry as evidence of a meteoritic parent body of at least lunar dimensions.We have synthesized cliftonite in Fe-Ni-C alloys in vacuumn, as a product of decomposition of cohenite [(Fe, Ni)(3)C]. We therefore suggest that a high pressure origin is unnecessary for meteorites which contain cliftonite, and that these meteorites were formed at low pressures. This concluision is in agreement with other recent evidence.     

Cohenite in meteorites: a proposed origin

Cohenite [(Fe, Ni)(3)C] is found almost exclusively in meteorites containing from 6 to 8 percent nickel (by weight). On the basis of iron-nickel-carbon phase diagrams at 1 atmosphere and of kinetic data, the occurrence of cohenite within this narrow composition range as a low-pressure metastable phase and the nonoccurrence of cohenite in meteorites outside the range 6 to 8 percent nickel can be explained. Cohenite formed in meteorites containing less than 6 to 8 percent nickel decomposed to metal and graphite during cooling; it cannot form in meteorites containing more than about 8 percent. The presence of cohenite in meteorites cannot be used as an indicator of pressure of formation. However, the absence of cohenite in meteorites containing the assemblage, metal plus graphite, requires low pressures during cooling.     

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.     

Potassium: argon dating of iron meteorites

The potassium:argon age of the metal phase of Weekeroo Station iron meteorite, determined by neutronactivation analysis, is about 10(10) years; it is similar to ages previously measured for other iron meteorites, but distinctly disagrees with a strontium: rubidium age of 4.7 X 10(9) years measured by other workers on silicate inclusions in this meteorite.     

Nitrogen abundances in chondritic meteorites

Carrier-gas fusion extractions of total nitrogen in 22 chondritic meteorites indicate a wide variation in total nitrogen contents, ranging from 660 parts per million for an enstatite chondrite to 18 parts per million for an ordinary chondrite. Total nitrogen and total carbon contents of individual chondrites do not show a positive correlation.     

Endogenous carbon in carbonaceous meteorites

Seven carbonaceous chondrites have been analyzed for soluble organic compounds, carbonate, and residual carbon. Carbon-13/carbon-12 isotopic mneasurements on these fractions gave the following values relative to a marine carbonate standard: carbonate, +40 to +70 per mil; residual carbon, -15 to -17 per mil; soluble organic material, -17 to -27 per mil, with one value of -5.5 per mil. These values are interpreted to indicate that carbonate, residual carbon, and part of the extractable organic material are endogenous to these meteorites.     

Carbynes: carriers of primordial noble gases in meteorites

Five carbynes (triply bonded allotropes of carbon) have been found by electron diffraction in the Allende and Murchison carbonaceous chondrites: carbon VI, VIII, X, XI, and (tentatively) XII. From the isotopic composition of the associated noble-gas components, it appears that the carbynes in Allende (C3V chondrite) are local condensates from the solar nebula, whereas at least two carbynes in Murchison (C2 chondrite) are of exotic, presolar origin. They may be dust grains that condensed in stellar envelopes and trapped isotopically anomalous matter from stellar nucleosynthesis.     

Stone meteorites: time of fall and origin

The fact that twice as many chondritic meteorites are observed falling in the afternoon as in the morning is not believed to be primarily of social origin, but to be a dynamic effect. Monte Carlo calculations show that the observed afternoon excess is not compatible with a lunar or Apollo asteroidal origin. Compatibility appears to require a source having an aphelion near Jupiter, such as could be provided conceivably by the Hilda or Trojan families of asteroids, or by short-period comets.     

Oxygen isotope variation in stony-iron meteorites

Asteroidal material, delivered to Earth as meteorites, preserves a record of the earliest stages of planetary formation. High-precision oxygen isotope analyses for the two major groups of stony-iron meteorites (main-group pallasites and mesosiderites) demonstrate that each group is from a distinct asteroidal source. Mesosiderites are isotopically identical to the howardite-eucrite-diogenite clan and, like them, are probably derived from the asteroid 4 Vesta. Main-group pallasites represent intermixed core-mantle material from a single disrupted asteroid and have no known equivalents among the basaltic meteorites. The stony-iron meteorites demonstrate that intense asteroidal deformation accompanied planetary accretion in the early Solar System.     

Graphite whiskers in CV3 meteorites

Graphite whiskers (GWs), an allotrope of carbon that has been proposed to occur in space, have been discovered in three CV-type carbonaceous chondrites via Raman imaging and electron microscopy. The GWs are associated with high-temperature calcium-aluminum inclusion (CAI) rims and interiors, with the rim of a dark inclusion, and within an inclusion inside an unusual chondrule that bears mineralogy and texture indicative of high-temperature processing. Current understanding of CAI formation places their condensation, and that of associated GWs, relatively close to the Sun and early in the condensation sequence of protoplanetary disk materials. If this is the case, then it is a possibility that GWs are expelled from any young solar system early in its history, thus populating interstellar space with diffuse GWs. Graphite whiskers have been postulated to play a role in the near-infrared (near-IR) dimming of type Ia supernovae, as well as in the thermalization of both the cosmic IR and microwave background and in galactic center dimming between 3 and 9 micrometers. Our observations, along with the further possibility that GWs could be manufactured during supernovae, suggest that GWs may have substantial effects in observational astronomy.     

Barium isotopes in chondritic meteorites: implications for planetary reservoir models

High-precision barium isotope measurements yielded differences of up to 25 parts per million in the 137Ba/136Ba ratio and 60 parts per million in the 138Ba/136Ba ratio between chondrites and Earth. These differences probably arose from incomplete mixing of nucleosynthetic material in the solar nebula. Chondritic meteorites have a slight excess of supernova-derived material as compared to Earth, demonstrating that the solar nebula was not perfectly homogenized upon formation.     

Ungrouped iron meteorites in antarctica: origin of anomalously high abundance

Eighty-five percent of the iron meteorites collected outside Antarctica are assigned to 13 compositionaily and structurally defined groups; the remaining 15 percent are ungrouped. Of the 31 iron meteorites recovered from Antarctica, 39 percent are ungrouped. This major difference in the two sets is almost certainly not a stochastic variation, a latitudinal effect, or an effect associated with differences in terrestrial ages. It seems to be related to the median mass of Antarctic irons, which is about 1/100 that of non-Antarctic irons. During impacts on asteroids, smaller fragments tend to be ejected into space at higher velocities than larger fragments, and, on average, small meteoroids have undergone more changes in orbital velocity than large ones. As a result, the set of asteroids that contributes small meteoroids to Earth-crossing orbits is larger than the set that contributes large meteoroids. Most small iron meteorites may escape from the asteroid belt as a result of impact-induced changes in velocity that reduce their perihelia to values less than the aphelion of Mars.     

Elements 112 to 119: were they present in meteorites?

Chondrites contain a small fission xenon component of unexplained origin. Evidence on the geochemical behavior of this component suggests that it was not derived from an actinide element (Z = 89 to 103), or from a transition metal between Z = 104 and 111, but from a more volatile progenitor. The most likely candidates are the superheavy elements between Z = 112 and 119, whose lighter congeners (mercury, tellurium, lead, and the like) are known to be strongly fractionated in meteorites.