Analysis of laser extracted volatiles in carbonaceous chondrites

It is scientifically important to understand the composition of volatile compounds from interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) because they may be related to the primordial inventory of planetary materials which were necessary to provide environments conducive to the formation of life. The use of a laser microprobe to measure volatiles in IDPs was evaluated. Because primitive meteorites are thought to be closely related to IDPs, carbonaceous chondrites were used for the evaluation. Three sets of experiments were performed to determine the volatiles released from potential substrate materials, to analyze the volatiles released from matrices of bulk samples of carbonaceous chondrites, and to analyze volatiles released from approx. 100 to 200 micron meteorite particles to simulate IDPs. Aluminum appeared to be the best choice of substrate material. Mass ratios between carbonaceous chondrite matrices of Allende and Murchison show fair reproducibility with somewhat high uncertainties. Particles from the Orgueil, Murchison, and Allende meteorites produced measurable quantities of volatiles that appear to have mass spectra comparable to the bulk matrices.