Interplanetary dust particles matter

Flynn G. J., Keller F. P., Feser M., Wirick S. and Jacobsen C. (2003). The origin of organic matter in the solar system evidence from the interplanetary dust particles. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 67 4791. 

Piazzarello, S., Cooper, G. W. and Flynn, G. J. (2006) The nature and distribution of the organic material in carbonaceous chondrites and interplanetary dust particles. In Meteorites and the Early Solar System II, eds. Lauretta, D. S. and McSween, H. Y., Jr. Tucson University of Arizona Press, pp. 625-651. A comprehensive, up-to-date review of organic matter in carbonaceous chondrites, but not for the faint-hearted. 

Interplanetary dust particles IDPs collected in the Earth s stratosphere are of multiple origins. Solar system objects come in anhydrous and hydrated forms. The anhydrous, chondritic-porous group are thought to be the most primitive and least-processed of all matter in the solar system... 

The importance of exogenous delivery of organic matter to the early Earth is critically dependent on the survivability of organic compounds during the delivery process. It is presently unclear exactly how much organic material would escape destruction during asteroid, comet and interplanetary dust particle infall to the Earth s surface. 

Accretion of icy cometary matter has been widely viewed as a plausible source for Earth s water. The D/H ratio in seawater, however, is substantially lower—by a factor of -2—than in the few comets where D/H has been measured (Laufer et al. 1999). A significant contribution of terrestrial water by comets would still be permitted if their high D/H ratio were appropriately lowered by accretion of additional, deuterium-poor materials. Suggested possibilities for low D/H carriers include rocky planetary accretional components (Laufer et al. 1999), or a high influx during the heavy bombardment epoch of interplanetary dust particles heavily loaded with implanted solar-wind hydrogen (Pavlov et al. 1999). 

Extraterrestrial He. Polar ice also archives the influx of extraterrestrial matter in the form of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), similar to the ocean sediments (see Schlosser and Winckler 2002 in this volume). Ice cores may provide less ambiguous results for the IDP flux than ocean sediments, as accumulation rates and time scales are well known in this archive. By analyzing He isotopes in particles separated from polar ice. Brook et al. (2000) demonstrated the utility of the ice core record to study the IDP flux and found similar results as obtained from marine sediments. 

Organic-rich extraterrestrial samples such as meteorites, micrometeorites, interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) and samples returned by spacecraft provide a unique record of the chemical processes in the early solar system and in the interstellar medium. In particular, detailed structural and isotopic analyses of carbonaceous meteorites have revealed a rich organic inventory and provided evidence of the synthesis of complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium and on the asteroidal parent bodies of meteorites [1,2], The organic matter in carbonaceous meteorites is present at levels of up to 5% and can be divided into solvent-soluble (l%-25%) and insoluble (75%-99%) fractions, the former characterized by considerable structural, isomeric, and isotopic diversity [2,3], and the latter characterized by a high molecular weight and complex aromatic network [4]. 

Laser mass spectrometry teclmiques (in various configurations, two-step or one-step desorption/ionization, Time-of-Fhght (ToF) or Fourier Transform (FT) MS) overcome this limitation no particular preparation is necessary, detection of heavy PAHs is possible, the measurement is fast - usually few seconds - and the detection limit is lower. This explains why these techniques have already been extensively used in the study of PAHs present in natural samples (or laboratory surrogates), like meteorites [6-7], interplanetary dust particles [8], ancient terrestrial rocks [9], sediments and soils [10-13], combustion soot and particulate matter [14-25], wood ash [26], aerosols [27-28], or water [29-31]. 

A meteoroid is matter revolving around the sun or any object in interplanetary space that is too small to be called an asteroid or a comet. Even smaller particles are called micrometeoroids or cosmic dust grains, which includes any interstellar material that should happen to enter our solar system. A meteorite is a meteoroid that reaches the surface of the Earth without being completely vaporized. 

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