Primitive Oxygen-, Nitrogen-, and Organic-Rich Vein Preserved in a Xenolith Hosted in the Metamorphosed Carancas Meteorite Primitive xenolithic CI-like carbonaceous (C) clasts are sometimes hosted within meteorites of a different origin (ordinary chondrite, ureilite, howardite, and eucrite). These xenoliths contain aggregates of macromolecular carbon (MMC), which are often present as discrete grains and exhibit a wide range of structural order and chemical compositions. The Carancas meteorite is a H4-5 that impacted south of Lake Titicaca, Peru in 2007. While the meteorite exhibits extensive recrystallization of the matrix indicating metamorphism, it contains dark, CI-like clasts that show no evidence of heating. Similar to other xenolithic clasts, the examined C clast of Carancas contains MMC, which however exists in the form of a vein-like structure dissimilar to the typical occurrence of MMC in meteorites. We investigated the organic and isotopic compositions of the organic-rich vein with C,N,O-X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), Raman spectroscopy, and NanoSIMS, in order to constrain its possible origin.
Document ID
20180002593
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Chan, Q. H. S. (Open Univ. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom)
Zolensky, M. E. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Kebukawa, Y. (Yokohama National Univ. Japan)
Franchi, I. (Open Univ. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom)
Wright, I. (Open Univ. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom)
Zhao, I. (Open Univ. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom)
Rahman, Z. (Jacobs Technology, Inc. Houston, TX, United States)
Utas, J. (California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)