1. A comprehensive study of noble gases and nitrogen in 'Hypatia', a diamond-rich pebble from SW Egypt
- Author
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Rainer Wieler, Bernard Marty, Jan Kramers, Pierre Cartigny, Falko Langenhorst, Matthias M. M. Meier, Colin Maden, Guillaume Avice, Marco A.G. Andreoli, Laurent Zimmermann, Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques (CRPG), Université de Lorraine (UL)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Earth Sciences [Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - ETH Zürich] (D-ERDW), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich] (ETH Zürich), Department of Geology [University of Johannesburg], Department of Geology, University of Johannesburg, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität = Friedrich Schiller University Jena [Jena, Germany], Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-IPG PARIS-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre D'Etude et de Recherche Interdisciplinaire de l'UFR LAC (CERILAC (EA_4410)), Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), University of the Witwatersrand [Johannesburg] (WITS), European Project: 267255,EC:FP7:ERC,ERC-2010-AdG_20100224,NOGAT(2011), Université de Lorraine (UL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Earth Sciences [ETH Zürich] (D-ERDW), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich [Zürich] (ETH Zürich), Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, School of Geosciences, and Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Lorraine (UL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPG Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,Radiogenic nuclide ,Meteoroid ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Lonsdaleite ,Mineralogy ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Libyan desert glass ,Strewn field ,Geophysics ,Meteorite ,chemistry ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,Geochemistry and Petrology ,[SDU.STU.GC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geochemistry ,Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) ,Carbon ,Geology ,Earth (classical element) ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics - Abstract
International audience; This is a follow-up study of a work by Kramers et al. (2013) on a very unusual diamond-rich rock fragment found in the area of south west Egypt in the south-western side of the Libyan Desert Glass strewn field. This pebble, called Hypatia, is composed of almost pure carbon. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results reveal that Hypatia is mainly made of defect-rich diamond containing lonsdaleite and multipledeformation bands. These characteristics are compatible with an impact origin on Earth and/or in space. We also analyzed concentrations and isotopic compositions of all five noble gases and nitrogen in several ~mg sized Hypatia samples. These data confirm the conclusion by Kramers et al. (2013) that Hypatia is extra-terrestrial. The sample is relatively rich in trapped noble gases with an isotopic composition being close to the Q component found in many types of meteorites. 40Ar/36Ar ratios in individual steps are as low as 0.4 ± 0.3. Cosmicray produced "cosmogenic" 21Ne is present in concentrations corresponding to a nominal cosmic-ray exposure (CRE) age of roughly 0.1 Myr if produced in a typical meter-sized meteoroid. Such an atypically low nominal CRE age suggests high shielding in a considerably larger body. In addition to the Xe-Q composition, an excess of radiogenic 129Xe (from thedecay of short-lived radioactive 129I) is observed (129Xe/132Xe = 1.18 +/- 0.03). Two isotopically distinct N components are present, an isotopically heavy component (δ15N ~ +20‰) released at low temperatures and a major isotopically light component (δ15N ~ -10‰) at higher temperatures. This disequilibrium in N suggests that the diamonds in Hypatia were formed in space rather than upon impact on Earth (δ15Natm = 0 ‰). All our dataare broadly consistent with concentrations and isotopic compositions of noble gases in at least three different types of carbon-rich meteoritic materials: carbon-rich veins in ureilites, graphite in acapulcoites/lodranites and graphite nodules in iron meteorites. However, Hypatia does not seem to be directly related to any of these materials, but may have sampled a similar cosmochemical reservoir. Our study does not confirm the presence of exotic noble gases (e.g. G component) that led Kramers et al. (2013) to propose that Hypatia is a remnant of a comet nucleus that impacted the Earth.
- Published
- 2015
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