Interstellar chemistry recorded in organic matter from primitive meteorites

Organic matter in extraterrestrial materials has isotopic anomalies in hydrogen and nitrogen that suggest an origin in the presolar molecular cloud or perhaps in the protoplanetary disk. Interplanetary dust particles are generally regarded as the most primitive solar system matter available, in part because until recently they exhibited the most extreme isotope anomalies. However, we show that hydrogen and nitrogen isotopic compositions in carbonaceous chondrite organic matter reach and even exceed those found in interplanetary dust particles. Hence, both meteorites (originating from the asteroid belt) and interplanetary dust particles (possibly from comets) preserve primitive organics that were a component of the original building blocks of the solar system.     

Organics captured from comet 81P/Wild 2 by the Stardust spacecraft

Organics found in comet 81P/Wild 2 samples show a heterogeneous and unequilibrated distribution in abundance and composition. Some organics are similar, but not identical, to those in interplanetary dust particles and carbonaceous meteorites. A class of aromatic-poor organic material is also present. The organics are rich in oxygen and nitrogen compared with meteoritic organics. Aromatic compounds are present, but the samples tend to be relatively poorer in aromatics than are meteorites and interplanetary dust particles. The presence of deuterium and nitrogen-15 excesses suggest that some organics have an interstellar/protostellar heritage. Although the variable extent of modification of these materials by impact capture is not yet fully constrained, a diverse suite of organic compounds is present and identifiable within the returned samples.     

Chemically anomalous, preaccretionally irradiated grains in interplanetary dust from comets

Nonstoichiometric grains with depletions of magnesium and silicon (relative to oxygen) and inclusions of iron-nickel metal and iron-rich sulfides have been identified in interplanetary dust particles from comets. These chemical anomalies accumulate in grains exposed to ionizing radiation. The grains, known as GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulfides), were irradiated before the accretion of comets, and their inferred exposure ages, submicrometer sizes, and "amorphous" silicate structures are consistent with those of interstellar silicate grains. The measured compositional trends suggest that chemical (as well as isotopic) anomalies can be used to identify presolar interstellar components in primitive meteoritic materials.     

Magnesium isotopic composition of interplanetary dust particles

The magnesium isotopic composition of some extraterrestrial dust particles has been measured. The particles are believed to be samples of interplanetary dust, a significant fraction of which originated from the disaggregation of comets and may contain preserved isotopic anomalies. Improvements in mass spectrometric and sample preparation techniques have made it possible to measure the magnesium isotopic composition of the dust particles, which are typically 10 micrometers in size and contain on the order of 10(-10) gram of magnesium. Of the 13 samples analyzed, nine have the terrestrial magnesium isotopic composition within 2 parts per thousand, and one shows isotopic mass fractionation of 1.1 percent per mass unit. A subset of the particles, described as chondritic aggregates, are very close to normal isotopic composition, but their normalized isotopic ratios appear to show nonlinear effects of 3 to 4 parts per thousand, which is near the present limit of detection for samples of this size. The isotopic composition of calcium was also determined in one particle and found to be normal within 2 percent. It is clear that the isotopic composition of interplanetary dust particles can be determined with good precision. Collection of dust particles during the earth's passage through a comet tail or an intense meteor stream may permit laboratory analysis of material from a known comet.     

An astronomical 2175 angstrom feature in interplanetary dust particles

The 2175 angstrom extinction feature is the strongest (visible-ultraviolet) spectral signature of dust in the interstellar medium. Forty years after its discovery, the origin of the feature and the nature of the carrier(s) remain controversial. Using a transmission electron microscope, we detected a 5.7-electron volt (2175 angstrom) feature in interstellar grains embedded within interplanetary dust particles (IDPs). The carriers are organic carbon and amorphous silicates that are abundant in IDPs and in the interstellar medium. These multiple carriers may explain the enigmatic invariant central wavelength and variable bandwidth of the astronomical 2175 angstrom feature.     

Acid dissolution experiments: carbonates and the 6.8-micrometer bands in interplanetary dust particles

A chemical dissolution experiment on an interplanetary dust particle (IDP) showed that carbonates, not acid-insoluble organic compounds, were responsible for virtually all the absorption at 6.8 micrometers seen in the infrared spectra of this particle. The IDP examined had an infrared spectrum characteristic of layer-lattice silicates and belongs to a class of IDP's whose spectra resemble those of protostellar objects like W33 A, which also exhibit a band at 6.8 micrometers.     

Circular polarization in star- formation regions: implications for biomolecular homochirality

Strong infrared circular polarization resulting from dust scattering in reflection nebulae in the Orion OMC-1 star-formation region has been observed. Circular polarization at shorter wavelengths might have been important in inducing chiral asymmetry in interstellar organic molecules that could be subsequently delivered to the early Earth by comets, interplanetary dust particles, or meteors. This could account for the excess of L-amino acids found in the Murchison meteorite and could explain the origin of the homochirality of biological molecules.     

Carbon compounds in interplanetary dust: evidence for formation by heterogeneous catalysis

Associations of carbonaceous material with iron-nickel alloy, carbides, and oxides were identified by analytical electron microscopy in ten unmelted chondritic porous micrometeorites from the earth's stratosphere. These associations, which may be interpreted in terms of reactions between a carbon-containing gas and catalytically active dust grains, suggest that some of the carbon in the chondritic porous subset of interplanetary dust was emplaced through heterogeneous catalysis.     

Zodiacal dust and deep-sea sediments

The recent detection of radioactive Al(26) in marine sediments has led to the conclusion that it is brought into the earth's atmosphere by micrometeorites which have been exposed, in interplanetary space, to solar high-energy protons. The Al(26) method is not precise enough to yield directly a reliable value for the mass accretion rate to the earth to better than about 3 orders of magnitude, but is sufficiently accurate to allow a crucial decision between two widely differing of interplanetary dust which have been proposed to explain observations of the zodiacal light. The two models lead to Al(26) concentrations which would differ by about 5 orders of magnitude. Thus, the presence of Al(26) is consistent with the zodiacal dust model with particles of some tens of microns rather then with submicron particles. From this model a mass accretion to the earth then be calculated which is set at 1250 (upper limit, 2500; lower limit, 250) tons per day, or 2.8 x 10(-15) g/cm(2) sec, or 4.5 x 10(11) g over the earth per This value does not depend on the flux of the solar high-energy particles, which may be uncertain by an order of magnitude or more. The presence of Al(26) supports the idea that an important fraction of the dust is stony in composition material density, and thus eliminates some more exotic dust models, as such one consisting entirely of carbon grains. We may also conclude that the accreted dust particles have been in the solar system and exposed to protons from solar high-energy particles for a time interval which is greater than a significant of the Al(26) half-life (0.74 x 10(6) years).     

Refractory minerals in interplanetary dust

A newly studied interplanetary dust particle contains a unique set of minerals that closely resembles assemblages in the refractory, calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusions in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. The set of minerals includes diopside, magnesium- aluminum spinel, anorthite, perovskite, and fassaite. Only fassaite has previously been identified in interplanetary dust particles. Diopside and spinel occur in complex symplectic intergrowths that may have formed by a reaction between condensed melilite and the solar nebula gas. The particle represents a new link between interplanetary dust particles and carbonaceous chondrites; however, the compositions of its two most abundant refractory phases, diopside and spinel, differ in detail from corresponding minerals in calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusions.     

广西西北喀斯特不同植被不同土层的土壤颗粒有机质

以广西西北喀斯特地区不同植被(草丛、灌丛、原生林)生态系统表层(0～10 cm)及深层(70～100 cm)土壤为研究对象,采用热裂解–气相–质谱(Pyr–TMAH–GC/MS)技术,研究不同植被表层与深层土壤颗粒有机质(POM)的变化特征。结果表明:表层土壤的pH值、有机碳、总氮、总磷、碱解氮、速效磷和速效钾含量均随植被的正向演替呈上升趋势;草丛表层土壤的有机碳、总磷和碱解氮含量均显著高于深层土壤的(P0.05);灌丛表层土壤的有机碳、总氮、总磷、碱解氮、速效磷和速效钾含量均显著高于深层土壤的(P0.05),灌丛表层土壤的pH值和总钾含量显著低于深层土壤的(P0.05);原生林表层土壤的总磷、速效磷和速效钾含量显著高于深层土壤的(P0.05);随着植被的正向演替,土壤POM总量呈增加趋势,表层土壤POM总量显著高于深层土壤的;土壤POM热裂解产物类型主要有木质素类、酚类、芳烃、多环芳烃及脂类化合物,木质素类化合物仅存在于表层土壤,稠环芳烃(此处指除萘和茚外的多环芳烃)占比则随植被的正向演替呈下降趋势;植被显著影响POM总量和POM热裂解产物中对羟基苯基、稠环芳烃、脂肪酸、正构烯烃、萘、氰的占比,土层深度显著影响POM总量和POM热裂解产物中对羟基苯基、愈创木基、丁香酚基、茚、脂肪酸、酮、苯、烷基苯、酚类和氰的占比,植被与土层的交互作用显著影响POM热裂解产物中对羟基苯基、萜烯和脂肪酸的占比;POM总量与有机碳、总氮、总磷、碱解氮、速效钾和速效磷含量呈显著正相关,与容重和总钾含量呈显著负相关,稠环芳烃与有机碳、总氮、总磷、碱解氮、速效磷和速效钾含量呈显著负相关,且碱解氮和pH值显著影响POM化合物组成。可见,在喀斯特地区,土壤POM含量能反映土壤中潜在活性养分含量,可作为喀斯特地区评价不同植被恢复对土壤有机质库及土壤质量动态变化影响的敏感指标。     

Aluminum-26 in pacific sediment: implications

Aluminum-26 has been detected in a sample of sediment from the South Pacific. The disintegration rate of 0.8 disintegration per minute per kilogram of dry sediment is considerably higher than that expected from cosmic-ray spallation of atmospheric argon; it appears to result mainly from accretion of activity induced in interplanetary dust by solar-flare particles. This finding is in keeping with Wasson's published estimates regarding the magnitude of this effect, and confirms the order-of-magnitude correctness of the solar-particle flux and terrestrial accretion rate of interplanetary dust used in that calculation.     

Epsilon carbide: a low-temperature component of interplanetary dust particles

Transmission electron microscope study of a chondritic interplanetary dust particle has revealed the presence of epsilon iron-nickel carbide, a low- temperature carbide previously encountered only in metallurgical studies. In these studies in-carbide was synthesized by carburization of iron or nickel grains in a stream of carbon monoxide or carbon monoxide plus hydrogen. Similar carburization of an iron-nickel metal in situ may have produced in-carbide during particle heating on atmospheric entry or in solar orbit. Alternatively, the epsilon-carbide may be a by-product of Fischer-Tropsch reactions in the solar nebula. Such reactions have been proposed as the mechanism of hydrocarbon formation in the early solar system.     

Evidence for multiple sources of diamond from primitive chondrites

Fine-grained diamonds, the most abundant form of circumstellar dust isolated from primitive meteorites, have elemental and isotopic characteristics that are dependent on the host meteorite type. Carbon isotopic compositions vary from -32 to -38 per mil, and nitrogen associated with the diamond changes in overall abundance by over a factor of four from 0.2 to 0.9 weight percent, between ordinary and CM2-type chondrites. Although the ratio of carbon to nitrogen evolves in a distinctive way during combustion of diamond separates, metamorphic degassing of nitrogen is not the main cause of the differences in nitrogen content. The data suggest that intrinsic differences must have been inherited by the diamonds at the time of their formation and that the diamonds were distributed heterogeneously in the solar nebula during condensation. However, the hypothesis that a distinct nitrogen carrier remains hidden within the diamond cannot be ruled out.     

Comparison of comet 81P/Wild 2 dust with interplanetary dust from comets

The Stardust mission returned the first sample of a known outer solar system body, comet 81P/Wild 2, to Earth. The sample was expected to resemble chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles because many, and possibly all, such particles are derived from comets. Here, we report that the most abundant and most recognizable silicate materials in chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles appear to be absent from the returned sample, indicating that indigenous outer nebula material is probably rare in 81P/Wild 2. Instead, the sample resembles chondritic meteorites from the asteroid belt, composed mostly of inner solar nebula materials. This surprising finding emphasizes the petrogenetic continuum between comets and asteroids and elevates the astrophysical importance of stratospheric chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles as a precious source of the most cosmically primitive astromaterials.     

西南喀斯特生态系统氮素循环特征及其固碳效应

评估生态系统氮状况对预测全球变化背景下生态系统的固碳潜力及生态演替的方向与进程均具有重要的意义。近年我们开展了比较系统的研究以回答二个关键科学问题,即氮是否限制喀斯特区植被恢复,以及喀斯特森林氮状况与邻近的非喀斯特森林相比有何差异?基于多尺度演替序列研究,发现退耕后喀斯特土壤总氮快速累积。氮的累积相应促进土壤有机碳快速累积,且有机碳累积的相对速率高于总氮累积的相对速率。恢复初期(草丛阶段)植被受氮限制,而在次生林阶段则表现出明显的氮饱和特征。基于土壤初级氮转化速率和胞外酶活性化学计量特征的证据表明氮饱和是喀斯特森林的独有特征,而邻近的非喀斯特森林普遍受氮限制。我们的研究意味着:1)西南喀斯特山区退耕后的生态恢复仅在早期受氮限制,而中后期则不受氮限制;2)充足的氮供应可保障生态恢复工程的固碳效应;3)喀斯特森林氮循环具有其独特性,在全球变化背景下,其响应与适应性也可能异于其他区域/类型森林。     

地表灰尘中黑碳含量的研究

为了解人为活动对地表灰尘中黑碳积累的影响,从浙江省各地采集174个受不同人为活动影响的地表灰尘样,采样地包括农居点(室内、室外)、燃煤工厂厂区、汽车站、城市居民区(室内、室外)和办公室,用化学分析方法测定地表灰尘中黑碳的含量.结果表明:地表灰尘中黑碳质量分数在1.47～25.47g爛kg-1之间,平均为9.24g爛kg-1,有较大的空间变异性,变异系数达61.04%;地表灰尘中黑碳质量分数主要集中分布在5～10g爛kg-1之间,占样品总数的45.98%;各类地表灰尘中黑碳平均含量由高至低依次为:农居点(室内)>燃煤工厂厂区>汽车站>农居点(室外)>城市居民区(室外)>城市居民区(室内)>办公室;黑碳占地表灰尘中有机碳的比例在14.35%～63.47%之间,平均为40.55%,该比例由高至低依次为:汽车站>燃煤工厂厂区>城市居民区(室外)>城市居民区(室内)>办公室>农居点(室内)>农居点(室外);相关分析表明,地表灰尘中黑碳含量与有机碳积累呈正比,地表灰尘中黑碳含量一般高于土壤,但低于大气粒子中的黑碳含量,地表灰尘中黑碳占有机碳的比例也高于一般的土壤.     

长期施肥对稻田土壤活性有机碳和氮的影响

土壤活性有机碳、氮是土壤有机碳、氮中最活跃的组分,在土壤碳、氮循环过程中具有重要作用。以湖南3个长期定位试验点(桃源、宁乡、桃江)为研究对象,分析测定表层土壤MBC、MBN、DOC、DON,研究长期施肥对土壤活性有机碳、氮(MBC+DOC,MBN+DON)的影响。结果表明,长期施用化肥及配施有机肥均能提高土壤活性有机碳、氮的含量。与对应的无肥处理(CK)相比,长期单施化肥(NPK)使土壤活性有机碳、氮的提高幅度分别为3.3%~21.0%和3.3%~27.1%,长期有机肥施用提高幅度分别为48.7%~84.8%和17.9%~105.8%,且土壤活性有机碳、氮含量随有机肥施用量的提高而增加,3个试验点活性有机碳大小顺序为桃源>宁乡>桃江。土壤活性有机碳与土壤有机碳(SOC)的累积速率呈显著正相关关系(P<0.05),而与SOC的含量关系不大。桃源土壤粘粒含量较高可能是土壤SOC累积速率快的主要原因;宁乡和桃江的粘粒含量和有机碳投入量相差不大,桃江较高的初始SOC水平影响了SOC积累速率;桃源和宁乡试验点的土壤活性氮含量相差不大,约是桃江的1.8倍。与土壤全氮(TN)相比,全氮的积累速率与土壤活性氮的关系更为密切,两者间有极显著的相关关系(P<0.01)。     

Organogenic elements and compounds in surface samples from the sea of tranquillity

Organogenic elements, mainly carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur are present in the particulate material and in a breccia rock from Tranquillity Base in amounts ranging from 5 to 4200 parts per million. The major compounds of carbon released by heating are carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide; the former predominates. Small amounts of other compounds of carbon have also been observed. Sulfur can be released as hydrogen sulfide by treatment with acid. The carbon isotopic delta(13L)C values are definitely nonterrestrial (+ 13 to + 18.5 per mil).     

海南岛文昌市不同森林类型土壤有机碳分布特征及其影响因素

土壤有机碳分布对于生态系统碳循环过程有重要意义,热带森林土壤存在高度空间异质性,不同森林类型下土壤有机碳的分布仍存在很大不确定性。因此,以海南岛文昌市五种森林类型的表层土壤为研究对象,探究其有机碳分布特征,并通过相关性分析、逐步回归分析和冗余分析阐明影响土壤有机碳分布的主要影响因子,结果表明:文昌市五种森林类型土壤有机碳含量范围在6.18－35.71k/kg,木麻黄人工林土壤有机碳含量最低,不利于土壤碳固存,有机碳分布表现为桉树人工林>人工混交林>次生林>相思人工林>木麻黄人工林；不同森林类型中有机碳含量变化与土壤中全氮含量、碳氮比变化一致；影响有机碳分布的主要因素为土壤全氮含量和碳氮磷化学计量比。研究结果可以为热带地区土壤碳固存及森林生态系统管理保护提供理论依据。