| Numéro |
J. Phys. IV France
Volume 104, March 2003
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 367 - 372 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/jp4:20030101 | |
J. Phys. IV France 104 (2003) 367
DOI: 10.1051/jp4:20030101
Analysis of interplanetary dust particles by soft and hard X-ray microscopy
G.J. Flynn1, L.P. Keller2, S. Wirick3, C. Jacobsen3 and S.R. Sutton41 Department of Physics, SUNY-Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY 12901, U.S.A.
2 NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77051, U.S.A.
3 Department of Physics, SUNY-Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, U.S.A.
4 Department of Geophysical Sciences and CARS, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, U.S.A.
Abstract
Interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), fragments from asteroids and cornets, contain important clues to the
conditions in the solar nebula when dust was forming, provide evidence of the chemical and physical properties of
their parent bodies, and may have been an important source of pre-biotic organic matter on the early Earth. We
mapped the spatial distributions in IDPs of C, O, K, and Ca using a scanning transmission x-ray microscope and of
Fe, Ni, Zn, Sr and Br using fluorescence microtomography. In addition, we obtained carbon and oxygen x-ray
absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra of the C-rich regions, identifying the C-ring and C=O functional
groups, and Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectra, identifying the aliphatic C-H
2 and C-H
3 functional groups.
The C-mapping indicates that IDPs contain anywhere from a few wt-% up to 90 wt-% carbon, much more carbon
than is found in the most carbon-rich meteorites, and C- and O-XANES demonstrate that a significant fraction of
this carbon is organic. The Ca, K, Fe, Ni, Zn, Sr, and Br maps allow inference of the host phases of these elements
and place constraints on surface contamination.
© EDP Sciences 2003