Water in Meteorites

Brearley, A. J. (2006) The action of water. In Meteorites and the Early Solar System II, eds. Lauretta, D. S. and McSween, H. Y., Jr. Tucson University of Arizona Press, pp. 587-624. The best available review of aqueous alteration processes and materials in chondritic meteorites. 

Deloule E. and Robert F. (1995) Interstellar water in meteorites Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 59, 4695-4706. 

Deloule E, Robert F (1995) Interstellar water in meteorites Geochim Cosmochim Acta 59 4695-4706 Deloule E, France-Lanord C, Albarede F (1991) D/H arralysis of minerals by ion probe. Geoehim Cosmochim Acta Spec Publ 3 53-62... 

Deloule, E., Robert, F. Origin of water in meteorites ion-probe determinations of D/h ratios in chondrules. In Lunar and Planetary Institute Conference Abstracts, vol. 27, p. 307 (1996)... 

It can be found in animal tissues (1), in vegetables and fmit (2,3), or in spring water (4), and has also been identified in meteorites (5). It is formed in alcohohc fermentation (6) and in the chemical and biochemical oxidation of fats. Succinic acid is present in amber (7) Succinuni) and can be obtained by distillation, by which method it was first isolated by Georgius Agricola in 1550. 

The photo below, taken by the Ttl/ng spacecraft, shows that the surface of Mars has been eroded, apparently by liquid water. More recent photos transmitted by Spirit and Opportunity convince scientists that this was the case. Apparently, Mars was once much warmer than it is today. Planetary scientists speculate that at one time the atmosphere of Mars may have contained large amounts of carbon dioxide, setting up a greenhouse effect that made the surface of that planet warmer and wetter. Might there, then, have been life on Mars at some earlier time Molecular stmctures found in meteorites thought to come from Mars have been interpreted to show that there was once life there, but these results are controversial. 

Fig. 2.7 The distribution of the ratio of the two hydrogen isotopes (D/H) in carbonaceous meteorites compared with that on Earth and in the comets. According to this distribution, most of the water on Earth must have had its origin in meteorites. From Robert (2001)...

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) recognised meteorites as being a source of extraterrestrial material. Several well-known chemists carried out analyses of material from meteorites, starting at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Thus Louis-Jacques Thenard (1777-1857) found carbon in Alais meteorites these results were confirmed in 1834 by Jons Jacob Berzelius, who by dint of very careful work was also able to detect water of crystallisation in meteoritic material. 

Chemical analysis of meteorites proceeds along classical analytical chemistry lines but with added precautions to prevent terrestrial contamination. Careful laboratory procedures have been developed, together with blank trials to enable the contamination in the laboratory to be eliminated. However, there is always the possibility of terrestrial contamination associated with the period of time on the ground before the find , in particular ice-melt water in the case of ALH84001. This meteorite... 

Craig, H. (1961). Isotopic variations in meteoritic waters. Science, 133, 1702-3. 

This was the first extinct radioactivity detected (Jeffrey and Reynolds 1961) and was made possible by the early high sensitivity of rare gas measurements and the low abrmdance of Xe in rocks. I has only one stable isotope at mass 127. Its abundance is measured as Xe after exposing a sample to an adequate neutron flux. The correlation between Xe and Xe observed in a stepwise degassing of a sample demonstrates that the excess Xe results from decay (Fig. 9h). Results in primitive meteorites and inclusions show that i29j/i2tj j.jose to 10 . Chronometry with I- Xe has been widely used in meteorite work (Reynolds 1963 Hohenberg 1967) but occasionally has some diflflculties to agree with the other chronometers due to the sensitivity of I to secondary processes and water alteration (Pravdivtseva et al. 2003 Busfleld et al. 2004 see also Swindle and Podosek (1988) for an extensive review). ... 

Busfield A, Gilmour JD, Whitby JA, Turner G (2004) Iodine-xenon analysis of ordinary chondrite halide implications for early solar system water. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 68 195-202 Busso M, Gallino R, Wasserburg GJ (1999) Nucleosynthesis in asymptotic giant branch stars relevance for galactic enrichment and solar system formation. Annu Rev Astronom Astrophys 37 239-309 Cameron AGW (1969) Physical conditions in the primitive solar nebula. In Meteorite Research. Millman PM (ed) Reidel, Dordrecht, p 7-12... 

Nickel is also found in meteorites and on the ocean floor in lumps of minerals known as sea floor nodules. The earth s core contains large amounts of nickel. Nickel is released into the atmosphere during nickel mining and by industries that make alloys or nickel compounds or industries that use nickel and its compounds. These industries may also discharge nickel in waste water. Nickel is also released into the atmosphere by oil-burning power plants, coalburning power plants, and trash incinerators. 

Deuterium-enriched water in Martian meteorites (Leshin et al., 1996 Leshin, 2000) indicates that some water has been lost from the atmosphere, but the fate of most of the... 

Drake, M. J. (2005) Origin of water in the terrestrial planets. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 40, 519-527. 

The chemistry and mineralogy of meteorites suggest that many of them are remnants of condensates from the Solar Nebula or fragments of asteroids and planetesimals that once inhabited the early solar system (Faure, 1998, 105 Wasson and Kallemeyn, 1988, 536). The mineralogy of meteorites also indicates that some planetesimals were once large and hot enough to differentiate metallic cores and other internal layers (Faure, 1998, 105). A number of meteorites even reveal the existence of liquid water in the interiors of some planetesimals (Chapman, 1999, 341). 

Both pathways probably involved quite different conditions, the main difference being the absence of liquid water in the interstellar medium. Nevertheless the basic building blocks and chemical reactions should have been roughly similar, thus leading to important connections between these two routes. While a wide variety of amino acids are prebiotically relevant (as attested by either Urey-Miller experiments or meteorite analysis), we shall focus in this section on a-amino acids (as the most relevant to biochemistry) and closely related compounds. 

The natural distribution of radiocarbon Mixing rates in the sea and residence times of carbon and water. In Earth Science and Meteoritics, S. 103—114. Ed. Geiss, J. and E. D. Goldberg. Amsterdam North-Hol-land Publ. Comp. 1963. 

What types of polymeric structures, other than proteins built from the standard 20 amino acids, might support catalysis in water For example, can 2-amino-2-methyl-carboxylic acids, which have been found to be enantiomerically enriched in meteorites, be the basis for a catalytic system In the absence of biopolymers, would selected monomers provide catalysis sufficient to sustain life ... 

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