Meteorites volatile elements

Percentage of meteorites seen to fall. Chondrites. Over 90% of meteorites that are observed to fall out of the sky are classified as chondrites, samples that are distinguished from terrestrial rocks in many ways (3). One of the most fundamental is age. Like most meteorites, chondrites have formation ages close to 4.55 Gyr. Elemental composition is also a property that distinguishes chondrites from all other terrestrial and extraterrestrial samples. Chondrites basically have undifferentiated elemental compositions for most nonvolatile elements and match solar abundances except for moderately volatile elements. The most compositionaHy primitive chondrites are members of the type 1 carbonaceous (Cl) class. The analyses of the small number of existing samples of this rare class most closely match estimates of solar compositions (5) and in fact are primary source solar or cosmic abundances data for the elements that cannot be accurately determined by analysis of lines in the solar spectmm (Table 2). Table 2. Solar System Abundances of the Elements ... 

Chondrite classes are also distinguished by their abundances of both volatile and refractory elements (3). For volatile elements the variation among groups results from incomplete condensation of these elements into soHd grains that accrete to form meteorite parent bodies. Volatile elements such as C,... 

Copper in meteorites is depleted in the heavier 65 isotope with respeet to the Earth (Luek et al. 2003 Russell et al. 2003). Luck et al. s (2003) study of the four main groups of carbonaceous chondrites CI-CM-CO-CV showed that Cu depletion is maximum (-1.5%o) for the C V chondrites (e.g., Allende) for which the depletion of volatile elements is strongest, which indicates that volatilization does not accormt for the observed isotopic heterogeneity (Fig. 4). Luck et al. (2003) found that 8 Cu in CI-CM-CO classes correlates with O excess, but this does not seems to be the case for CV (Luck et al. 2003) nor for the CR, CB, and the particularly Cu-depleted CH-like classes (Russell et al. 2003). In contrast, chondritic Zn is relatively heavy with 8 Zn up to 1 %o (Luck et al. 2001). The rather high 5 Zn values of iron meteorites (up to 4%o)is reminiscent of a similar fractionation of Fe isotopes between metal and silicates (Zhu et al. 2002). 

In addition to oxygen isotopes, the volatile elements H, C, N, and S also show extremely large variations in isotope composition in meteorites. In recent years, most investigations have concentrated on the analyses of individual components with more and more sophisticated analytical techniques. 

By its great mass, the Sun constitutes the major part of the Solar System. In this sense, it is more representative than the planets, which have been the scene of intensive chemical fractionation. The composition of the solar photosphere can thus be compared with the contents of meteorites, stones that fall from the sky, a second source of information on the composition of the protosolar cloud, provided that volatile elements such as hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and neon are excluded. Indeed, the latter cannot be gravitationally bound to such small masses as meteorites and tend to escape into space over the long period since their formation. 

The carbonaceous chondrites, which constitute a tiny proportion of the matter within the Solar System, do conserve within them the original composition of the Solar System. If we exclude the volatile elements mentioned above, these rare meteorites have hardly been affected by the subsequent metamorphism of our planetary system. 

Matrix minerals are complex mixtures of silicates (especially olivine and pyroxene), oxides, sulfides, metal, phyllosilicates, and carbonates. The bulk chemical composition of matrix is broadly chondritic, and richer in volatile elements than the other chondrite components. Some chondrules have rims of adhering matrix that appear to have been accreted onto them prior to final assembly of the meteorite. Small lumps of matrix also occur in many chondrites. Presolar grains, described in Chapter 5, occur in the matrix. 

The geochemistry of angrites is characterized by strong silica undersaturation, by which we mean that there is not enough SiC>2 to combine with various cations to form common silicate minerals. The result is the formation of silica-poor minerals like kirschsteinite and nepheline. These meteorites also show strong depletions in moderately volatile elements. They are thought to have formed as partial melts of a chondritic source under oxidizing conditions. 

The volatile element depletions among the various classes of chondrites were once considered to be the result of equilibrium condensation, with accretion of the different classes of meteorites taking place at different temperatures before the missing volatiles could... 

Plots of uranium versus lanthanum (two refractory elements), and potassium versus lanthanum (a volatile element and a refractory element) for terrestrial and lunar basalts, HED achondrites (Vesta), and Martian meteorites. All three elements are incompatible elements and thus fractionate together, so their ratios remain constant. However, ratios of incompatible elements with different volatilities ( /La) reveal different degrees of volatile element depletion in differentiated bodies. After Wanke and Dreibus (1988). 

Davis, A. M. (2006) Volatile element evolution and loss. In Meteorites and the Early Solar System, II, eds. Lauretta, D. S. and McSween, H. Y., Jr. Tucson University of Arizona Press, pp. 295-307. 

Mars bulk silicate (mantle + crust) composition, estimated from Martian meteorites by Wanke and Dreibus (1988). This composition differs from the bulk silicate of Earth, because of differences in volatile element abundances and core differentiation. 

Chondrites. Over 909, of the meteorites lhat are observed lo fall out of the sky are classified as chondrites, samples lhat are distinguished from terrestrial rocks in many ways. One of the most fundamental is age. Like most meteorites, chondrites have formation ages close to 4.55 Gyr. Chondrites also have basically undifferentiated elemental compositions lor most nonvolatile elements and match solar abundances except for moderately volatile elements. The imtsl cunipositionally primitive chondrites are members for the type I carbonaceous f Cl I class. 

Chondrites can be described as conglomerate rocks characterised by a overall chemical composition similar to the composition of the sun (with a depletion of hydrogen, helium and some other highly volatile elements). This latter characteristic is an easy way to distinguish clearly between stony meteorites and terrestrial stones. 

The process of condensation of minerals in the early solar nebula has long been invoked to explain the chemistry and mineralogy of primitive chondritic meteorites (e.g. Cameron 1963). Their observed bulk compositions show volatile-element depletions that are clearly smooth functions of calculated condensation temperature in a gas of solar composition (Davis 2006). Despite this success in explaining the bulk composition of chondrites, the diverse mineralogy of these bodies is not reproduced well in the condensation sequence calculations. To date, there is no incontrovertible evidence for direct condensation of rocky meteoritic material in the... 

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