Transmission Electron Microscopy of CONCORDIA UltraCarbonaceous Antarctic MicroMeteorites (UCAMMs): Mineralogical properties

• Published in: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
• Main Authors: Dobrică, E., Engrand, C., Leroux, H., Rouzaud, J.-N., Duprat, J.
• Other Authors: CSNSM AS, Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse (CSNSM), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Unité Matériaux et Transformations - UMR 8207 (UMET), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille (ENSCL)-Institut de Chimie - CNRS Chimie (INC-CNRS)-Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de géologie de l'ENS (LGENS), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Département des Géosciences - ENS Paris, École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: [PHYS.ASTR.EP]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]; [SDU.ASTR.EP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]; Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: https://hal.in2p3.fr/in2p3-00642627; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2011.10.025

We performed mineralogical and petrographic studies of three UltraCarbonaceous Antarctic Micrometeorites (UCAMMs) by analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The UCAMMs were identified in the CONCORDIA micrometeorite collection (2002 and 2006) recovered from central Antarctic snow, and are of probable cometary origin. UCAMMs are dominated by disordered carbonaceous matter that extends over surfaces of up to ∼90% of the particle. Embedded in this carbonaceous matter, we observed small and complex assemblages of fine-grained mineral phases, isolated minerals, glassy phases that resemble Glass with Embedded Metal and Sulfides (GEMS) that were first found in Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDPs), and rounded objects containing both glass and crystalline materials. The mineral assemblages are chondritic in composition, within a factor of 2. Crystalline materials represent at least 25% of mineral phases. This value is much larger than the upper limit of crystallinity measured in the diffuse interstellar medium (<2.2 wt%). Crystalline phases are dominated by low-Ca, Mg-rich pyroxenes, Mg-rich olivine and low-Ni Fe-sulfides. Exotic phases such as Mn-, Zn-rich sulfide and perryite have also been found as accessory minerals. The variety of high temperature mineral phases observed in UCAMMs is similar to that reported in chondritic porous IDPs and 81P/Wild 2 samples. The close association of high temperature crystalline phases with the low temperature carbonaceous matter in UCAMMs supports the hypothesis of a large-scale radial mixing in the early solar nebula. This new type of carbon-rich micrometeorites containing crystalline material provides the opportunity to analyze in situ, without any chemical processing, the association of materials formed at both low and high temperatures in the protoplanetary disk. A better knowledge of these samples is also important to prepare for future cometary missions, like ROSETTA in 2014.