A new carbon-rich phase (COPS) in Antarctic micrometeorites

Details A new carbon-rich phase (COPS) in Antarctic micrometeorites A new carbon-rich phase (COPS) in Antarctic micrometeorites

Mar 1993

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993lpi....24..441e&link_type=abstract

In Lunar and Planetary Inst., Twenty-fourth Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Part 1: A-F p 441-442 (SEE N94-12015 01-91)

Computer Science

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Antarctic Regions, Carbonaceous Chondrites, Carbonaceous Meteorites, Meteoritic Composition, Micrometeorites, Murchison Meteorite, Atmospheric Heating, Chemical Evolution, Geomagnetism, Nickel, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Weathering

Scientific paper

The contemporary flux of micrometeorites with sizes greater than 50 microns reaching the Earth's surface each year (about 20,000 tons/a) is much greater than the value of approximately 100 tons/a reported for conventional meteorites up to masses of approximately 10,000 tons. Moreover, on the average, Antarctic micrometeorites contain at least as much carbon as does Orgueil, the most C-rich meteorite. Micrometeorites are thus responsible for most of the carbon accreted by the Earth. In this paper we report SEM observations of a new C-rich 'dirty magnetite' phase observed as tiny inclusions in both melted and unmelted micrometeorites. This phase, which is enriched in C, O, P, S, Fe, frequently shows Ni contents in excess of 0.2 percent, strongly suggestive of an 'extraterrestrial' origin. We also discovered this 'COPS' phase in the fusion crust of Murchison. It appears likely that COPS is a product of meteoroid reprocessing during frictional heating in the Earth's atmosphere and/or its fast 'weathering' in the upper atmosphere. Upon 'catalyzed' hydrolysis this phase might have facilitated the functioning of micrometeorites as 'micro-chondritic-reactors' for the synthesis of prebiotic molecules on the early Earth.

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