Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: Meteorites
- Creators: School of Earth and Space Exploration
- Creators: Shock, Everett L
Description
Carbonaceous chondrites (CCs) present a unique opportunity for learning about the earliest organic chemistry that took place in our Solar System. The complex and diverse suite of meteoritic organic material is the result of multiple settings and physicochemical processes, including aqueous and thermal alteration. Though meteorites often inform origin-of-life discussions because they could have seeded early Earth with significant amounts of water and pre-biotic, organic material, their record of abiotic, aqueous, and organic geochemistry is of interest as well.
CC materials previously resided on asteroidal parent bodies, relic planetesimals of Solar System formation which never accreted enough material to develop long-lived, large-scale geological processes. These bodies were large enough, however, to experience some degree of heating due to the decay of radiogenic isotopes, and the meteorite record suggests the existence of 100-150 parent bodies which experienced varying degrees of thermal and aqueous alteration for the first several 10 Myr of Solar System history.
The first chapter of this dissertation reviews literature addressing aqueous alteration as an essential participant in parent body geochemistry, organic synthesis, or both (though papers which address both are rare). The second chapter is a published organic analysis of the soluble organic material of Bells, an unclassified type 2 chondrite. Analytical approaches to assess terrestrial contamination of meteorite samples are also reviewed in the first chapter to allow introduction in chapter 3 of kinetic modeling which rules out certain cases of contamination and constrains the timing of thermal and aqueous alteration. This is the first known application of isoleucine epimerization for either of these purposes. Chapter 4 is a kinetic study of D-allo-isoleucine epimerization to establish its behavior in systems with large, relative abundances of alloisoleucine to isoleucine. Previous epimerization studies for paleontological or geological purposes began with L-isoleucine, the only protein amino acid of the four isoleucine stereoisomers.
Kinetic model calculations using isoleucine stereoisomer abundances from 7 CR chondrites constrain the total duration of the amino acids' residence in the aqueous phase. The comparatively short timescales produced by the presented modeling elicit hypotheses for protection or transport of the amino acids within the CR parent body.
CC materials previously resided on asteroidal parent bodies, relic planetesimals of Solar System formation which never accreted enough material to develop long-lived, large-scale geological processes. These bodies were large enough, however, to experience some degree of heating due to the decay of radiogenic isotopes, and the meteorite record suggests the existence of 100-150 parent bodies which experienced varying degrees of thermal and aqueous alteration for the first several 10 Myr of Solar System history.
The first chapter of this dissertation reviews literature addressing aqueous alteration as an essential participant in parent body geochemistry, organic synthesis, or both (though papers which address both are rare). The second chapter is a published organic analysis of the soluble organic material of Bells, an unclassified type 2 chondrite. Analytical approaches to assess terrestrial contamination of meteorite samples are also reviewed in the first chapter to allow introduction in chapter 3 of kinetic modeling which rules out certain cases of contamination and constrains the timing of thermal and aqueous alteration. This is the first known application of isoleucine epimerization for either of these purposes. Chapter 4 is a kinetic study of D-allo-isoleucine epimerization to establish its behavior in systems with large, relative abundances of alloisoleucine to isoleucine. Previous epimerization studies for paleontological or geological purposes began with L-isoleucine, the only protein amino acid of the four isoleucine stereoisomers.
Kinetic model calculations using isoleucine stereoisomer abundances from 7 CR chondrites constrain the total duration of the amino acids' residence in the aqueous phase. The comparatively short timescales produced by the presented modeling elicit hypotheses for protection or transport of the amino acids within the CR parent body.
ContributorsMonroe, Adam Alexander (Author) / Pizzarello, Sandra (Thesis advisor) / Williams, Peter (Thesis advisor) / Anbar, Ariel D (Committee member) / Shock, Everett L (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The occurrence of exogenic, meteoritic materials on the surface of any world presents opportunities to explore a variety of significant problems in the planetary sciences. In the case of Mars, meteorites found on its surface may help to 1) constrain atmospheric conditions during their time of arrival; 2) provide insights into possible variabilities in meteoroid type sampling between Mars and Earth space environments; 3) aid in our understanding of soil, dust, and sedimentary rock chemistry; 4) assist with the calibration of crater-age dating techniques; and 5) provide witness samples for chemical and mechanical weathering processes. The presence of reduced metallic iron in approximately 88 percent of meteorite falls renders the majority of meteorites particularly sensitive to oxidation by H2O interaction. This makes them excellent markers for H2O occurrence. Several large meteorites have been discovered at Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum by the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs). Significant morphologic characteristics interpretable as weathering features in the Meridiani suite of iron meteorites include a 1) large pit lined with delicate iron protrusions suggestive of inclusion removal by corrosive interaction; 2) differentially eroded kamacite and taenite lamellae on three of the meteorites, providing relative timing through cross-cutting relationships with deposition of 3) an iron oxide-rich dark coating; and 4) regmaglypted surfaces testifying to regions of minimal surface modification; with other regions in the same meteorites exhibiting 5) large-scale, cavernous weathering. Iron meteorites found by Mini-TES at both Meridiani Planum and Gusev Crater have prompted laboratory experiments designed to explore elements of reflectivity, dust cover, and potential oxide coatings on their surfaces in the thermal infrared using analog samples. Results show that dust thickness on an iron substrate need be only one tenth as great as that on a silicate rock to obscure its infrared signal. In addition, a database of thermal emission spectra for 46 meteorites was prepared to aid in the on-going detection and interpretation of these valuable rocks on Mars using Mini-TES instruments on both MER spacecraft. Applications to the asteroidal sciences are also relevant and intended for this database.
ContributorsAshley, James Warren (Author) / Christensen, Philip R. (Thesis advisor) / Sharp, Thomas G (Committee member) / Shock, Everett L (Committee member) / Hervig, Richard L (Committee member) / Zolotov, Mikhail Y (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Shock effects in meteorites provide important insights into impacts on their parent bodies. Eucrites are among the Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite (HED) class of achondrites that likely originate from the intact, differentiated asteroid Vesta. Brecciated eucrites provide a record of the impact processes that occurred after the crustal formation of the parent body. Radiometric dating of HEDs has shown that they were affected by resetting events at 3.4 – 4.1 and 4.48 Ga. Therefore, shock effects in HEDs are windows into ancient impacts on asteroids early in solar system history. Northwest Africa (NWA) 8677 is a genomict eucrite with lithologies that are texturally different, but compositionally similar. The clasts in the breccia include strongly shocked (S5) gabbroic fragments and weakly shocked (S3) basaltic clasts. Coesite, a high-pressure polymorph of quartz, is preserved in the core of a large (~250 μm) silica grain, indicating the gabbro was strongly shocked. A large thermal overprint from the surrounding melt resulted in the transformation of coesite to low-pressure silica phases of quartz and cristobalite on the rims of this grain. The shock melt, interstitial to the breccia fragments, exhibits well-developed quench textures and contains a low-pressure mineral assemblage of plagioclase and pyroxene, implying that crystallization occurred after pressure release. The heterogeneity in shock features between the gabbroic and basaltic lithologies suggests that NWA 8677 experienced a variable impact history, which included at least two impact events. An initial impact strongly shocked and brecciated the gabbro and ejected both onto the regolith of the parent body where a more weakly shocked basalt was incorporated. A second impact produced the interstitial melt between the breccia matrix. The temperature of this shock melt remained high after pressure release, resulting in crystallization of a low-pressure assemblage of pyroxene and feldspar, as well as the transformation of quartz + cristobalite rims on coesite
ContributorsMarquardt, Madeline Claire (Co-author) / Sharp, Thomas (Co-author, Thesis director) / Fudge, Crystylynda (Co-author) / Irving, Tony (Co-author) / Barboni, Melanie (Committee member) / Desch, Steve (Committee member) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Lunar meteorites are created when an asteroid impacts the Moon. In such events, the lunar surface, known as regolith, can experience extreme pressures and temperature conditions. Some of this regolith material can be ejected from the Moon and enter interplanetary space where it can be captured by Earth's gravity. Even after falling to Earth, the minerals of lunar meteorites preserve the history and conditions of lunar impact processes. One such mineral that has gained attention recently is tissintite due to its relatively specific temperature and pressure formation conditions. The lunar meteorite NWA 13967 and its mineral assemblage provided an opportunity for comparison to other lunar meteorites (Zhang et al. 2021). Based on its mineralogy and petrography, NWA 13967 likely experienced peak pressures of 18 to 24 GPa and peak temperatures above 2000℃, as indicated by the presence of intergranular melt, vesicles, and corundum. The occurrence of tissintite-II and coesite suggest crystallization during cooling and decompression, while other high pressure minerals likely back-transformed to lower pressure polymorphs.
ContributorsKroemer, Christian (Author) / Wadhwa, Meenakshi (Thesis director) / Wittmann, Axel (Committee member) / Sharp, Thomas (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor)
Created2022-05