Water and organics in meteorites

Chan, Queenie H. S.; Zolensky, M. E.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-824162-2.00008-7

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 215 publications

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“…Approximately a ton of extraterrestrial material is delivered to Earth per day 55 . The delivery of biologically relevant molecules to Earth within phyllosilicate and amorphous silicates would have been in higher abundance in the early Earth than today 56 , which is mostly delivered as fine grain dust fragments of asteroids and comets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of organic material on Asteroid 162173 Ryugu and its delivery to Earth

Changela,

Kebukawa,

Petera

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The recent return of samples from carbonaceous asteroids provides first insight into early Solar System prebiotic evolution from known planetary bodies. Asteroid 162173 Ryugu samples are CI (Ivuna type), the most water- and organic-rich chondritic material, composing mostly of phyllosilicate. This phyllosilicate surrounds micron to submicron macromolecular organic particles - insoluble organic matter. Alteration on 162173Ryugu evolved insoluble organic material into organic particles aromatic-richer than what is found in the lesser altered carbonaceous chondrite matrices, consistent with CI and type 1 carbonaceous chondrites. Wider-spread diffuse organic material is also preserved within the phyllosilicate, aliphatic-, carboxylic-richer and aromatic-poorer than the organic particles. This diffuse organic material is probably a mixture of both acid insoluble and solvent soluble organic molecules. Carboxyl/aromatic ratios in the diffuse organic matter of Ryugu are also characteristic of CI and type 1 carbonaceous chondrites, indicating the role of aqueous alteration in its formation. Some organic particles additionally evolved to completely surround phyllosilicate itself, meaning that the soluble organic bearing diffuse organic matter is contained within some of the macromolecular organic particles by aqueous alteration on Ryugu. Earth therefore was, and currently is, delivered micron-sized polymeric organic objects encapsulating biologically relevant molecules.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of organic material on Asteroid 162173 Ryugu and its delivery to Earth

Changela,

Kebukawa,

Petera

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…These values are lower than those observed in CM falls (C = ~2.2 wt% and N = ~0.1 wt%; Alexander et al., 2013). Although the carbon in CMs is not confined to organic matter, as it can also be derived from other inorganic phases such as carbonate, diamond, graphite, and silicon carbide (Chan & Zolensky, 2022), the low abundances of both carbon and nitrogen in Winchcombe potentially indicate that the meteorite has a low organic abundance, and this can be a challenge to SOM analysis. The bulk hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen isotopic compositions (δD = −142 ± 4‰; δ 13 C = −1.7 ± 1.1‰; δ 15 N = +16.7 ± 0.9‰) of the Winchcombe meteorite are comparable to most CMs (King et al., 2022; Sephton et al., 2023), and the δ 15 N value is more consistent with the moderately aqueously altered CMs with >0.75 volume fractions of phyllosilicates (Alexander et al., 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The amino acid and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compositions of the promptly recovered CM2 Winchcombe carbonaceous chondrite

Chan

Watson

Sephton

et al. 2023

Meteorit & Planetary Scien

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The rapid recovery of the Winchcombe meteorite offers a valuable opportunity to study the soluble organic matter (SOM) profile in pristine carbonaceous astromaterials. Our interests in the biologically relevant molecules, amino acids-monomers of protein, and the most prevalent meteoritic organics-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are addressed by analyzing the solvent extracts of a Winchcombe meteorite stone using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The Winchcombe sample contains an amino acid abundance of ~1132 parts-per-billion that is about 10 times lower than other CM2 meteorites. The detection of terrestrially rare amino acids, including a-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB); isovaline; b-alanine; a-, b-, and c-amino-n-butyric acids; and 5-aminopentanoic acid, and the racemic enantiomeric ratios (D/L = 1) observed for alanine and isovaline indicate that these amino acids are indigenous to the meteorite and not terrestrial contaminants. The presence of predominantly a-AIB and isovaline is consistent with their formation via the Strecker-cyanohydrin synthetic pathway. The L-enantiomeric excesses in isovaline previously observed for aqueously altered meteorites were viewed as an indicator of parent body aqueous processing; thus, the racemic ratio of isovaline observed for Winchcombe, alongside the overall high free:total amino acid ratio, and the low amino acid concentration suggest that the analyzed stone is derived from a lithology that has experienced brief episode(s) of aqueous alteration. Winchcombe also contains 2-to 6-ring alkylated and nonalkylated PAHs. The low total PAHs abundance (6177 ppb) and high nonalkylated:alkylated ratio are distinct from that observed for heavily aqueously altered CMs. The weak petrographic properties of Winchcombe, as well as the discrepancies observed for the Winchcombe SOM content-a low total amino acid abundance comparable to heavily altered CMs, and yet the high free:total amino acid and nonalkylated:alkylated PAH ratios are on par with the less altered CMs-suggest that Winchcombe could represent a class of weak, poorly lithified meteorite not been previously studied.

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Ultrasound assisted extraction of amino acids and nucleobases from clay minerals and astrobiological samples

Timoumi,

Amaniampong,

Le Postollec

et al. 2024

Ultrasonics Sonochemistry

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Water and organics in meteorites

Cited by 5 publications

References 215 publications

The evolution of organic material on Asteroid 162173 Ryugu and its delivery to Earth

The evolution of organic material on Asteroid 162173 Ryugu and its delivery to Earth

The amino acid and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compositions of the promptly recovered CM2 Winchcombe carbonaceous chondrite

Ultrasound assisted extraction of amino acids and nucleobases from clay minerals and astrobiological samples

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