Meteorites - Science topic

Linear relationship between thermal inertia and porosity of L and H ordinary chondrites has been confirmed. Exponential dependence of Antonin chondrite thermal inertia on themperature has been derived.

Bulk chemical composition of Antonin chondrite and contribution of minerals to the bulk composition were predicted using elemental composition of minerals, and modal composition of meteorite. I was shown that contribution of Antonin chondrite minerals and contribution of Braunschweig chondrite minerals to the global abundance of elements in these m...

The discovery of Novel Structured Entities (NSE) in meteorite-derived cultures provides an opportunity to investigate structured formations with unique physicochemical properties and their potential role in the stabilization of genetic elements. This study employs Live Optical LED microscopy to characterize and dynamically visualize the structural...

This chapter provides a brief introduction to the chemical composition of the Sun. The focus of the chapter is on results obtained from the physical analysis of the solar photosphere. Data obtained from meteorites, solar wind and corona measurements, as well as helioseismology, and solar neutrinos are briefly reviewed. The elemental and isotopic co...

The origin of chondrules, and the chondritic sedimentary rocks that dominate the meteoritic record, is a long-standing problem in planetary science. Here, we develop a physical model for the formation of chondritic mixtures as an outcome of vaporizing collisions between planetesimals that were dynamically excited by the growth and migration of plan...

The role of meteorite impacts in the origin, modification, and destruction of crust during the first two billion years of Earth history (4.5–2.5 billion years ago; Ga) is disputed. Whereas some argue for a relatively minor contribution overall, others have proposed that individual giant impactors (>10–50 km diameter) can initiate subduction zones a...

The Luna impact structure, a near-circular structure occupied by a small perennial lake within the low-lying, flat terrain of Rann of Kutch, Gujarat and associated impactites were studied to identify diagnostic meteoritic impact signatures. A multi-proxy approach encompassing field survey, petrography, mineral, chemical and geochemical studies was...

Asteroids with the potential to impact Earth have become a significant focus of scientific research and applied space technology. These bodies are expected to be key targets for mitigation actions and space mining activities in the coming decades. Understanding their material characteristics is challenging due to the effects of space weathering, wh...

There is ongoing debate about whether lunar magnesian suite (Mg-suite) magmatism was a global, nearly synchronous event with a genetic link to potassium, rare-earth element and phosphorus components (KREEP). Arguin 002, the first whole-rock meteorite classified as a lunar norite, offers a unique opportunity to explore the genesis and timing of Mg-s...

Meteorites are a unique source of geological information about our early Solar System and the difference between planets and asteroids. In this study, meteorite Ribbeck (2024 BX1, SAR 2736) from the recently fallen asteroid (21.01.2024), collected right after the fall, was investigated. This meteorite is classified as a coarse-grained brecciated au...

Among the biogenic macroelements, phosphorus is the one bringing the most fascinating and unsolved mysteries for what concern its prebiotic history. It possibly landed on Earth as a metal phosphide (Schreibersite, (Fe,Ni)3P), throughout the Heavy Meteor Bombardment during the Archean Era. Its subsequent corrosion by water led to P-oxygenated compou...

The article analyzes the creation of alternative histories using the examples of Xavras Wyżryn [Xavras Wyżryn] and Lód [Ice]. The focus of the interpretations will be on the question of why this particular period was subjected to counterfactual processes. In Xavras, the first half of the twentieth century is presented as a sequence of events result...

Stishovite, the tetragonal high-pressure polymorph of SiO2, was named by the Russian high-pressure physicist Sergey M. Stishov, who, together with Popova, first synthesized the mineral in 1961. This mineral is very rare at the Earth's surface, having only been found in known or suspected meteorite craters. For the first time in the sixty years sinc...

Solar photospheric abundances and CI-chondrite compositions are reviewed and updated to obtain representative solar system abundances of the elements and their isotopes. The new photospheric abundances obtained here lead to higher solar metallicity. Full 3D NLTE photospheric analyses are only available for 11 elements. A quality index for analyses...

This study presents Raman spectra of carbonates on a carbonaceous chondrite, Yamato (Y) 980115. Y 980115 is an Antarctic meteorite and is originally classified as CI1-type. Since CI1-type meteorites are expected to record information of aqueous alteration of carbonaceous matters in the primitive solar photosphere or planetesimals, extensive studies...

The surface of Mars has long been seen as a basaltic, monotonous world, but observations in the past decade have revealed more petrological diversity. Orbital and in situ rover investigations show that Mars developed a silica-rich crust early in its history. This is supported by studies of the Martian regolith breccia Northwest Africa (NWA) 7533 (a...

Carbonaceous chondrites (CC) and asteroid return samples contain amino acids (AA), which are essential for an origin of life on the early Earth and can provide important information concerning planetesimal alteration processes. While many studies have investigated AA from CC, separate studies have often found differing abundances for the same meteo...

Mars is known to have once sustained an environment that may have been habitable. This idea has often been combined with theories of panspermia, to suggest that any life on Mars may have had a common origin with life on Earth. These ideas typically involve meteorites produced as impact ejecta as vectors for the transport of life between planets. Ho...

Asteroid 2024 XA$_1$ was discovered on 3 December 2024 at 05:54 UTC by the Bok telescope in Kitt Peak, Arizona, and impacted Earth about 10 hours later over a remote area of the Sakha Republic (Russia). The estimated size of the object was about one meter, and the atmospheric entry produced a bright fireball that was captured by a webcam and severa...

Submicroscopic metallic iron particles (SMFe) are unique components of lunar soil produced during long‐term exposure on the Moon's surface. They can significantly alter the optical properties of lunar soil and this alteration is crucial for the interpretation of remote sensing data. The origin and formation of SMFe remain a subject of controversy,...

In Antarctica, SAR interferometry has largely been used in coastal glacial areas, while in rare cases this method has been used on the Antarctic plateau. In this paper, the authors present a digital elevation and ice flow map based on SAR interferometry for an area encompassing Talos Dome (TD) and the Frontier Mountain (FM) meteorite site in North...

Some melted and differentiated planetesimals, such as the parent bodies of angrites and howardite‐eucrite‐diogenite meteorites, are severely depleted in moderately volatile elements (MVEs). The origins of these depletions are critical for understanding early solar system evolution but remain topics of debate. Numerous previous studies have invoked...

Impact cratering processes are ubiquitous throughout our solar system, and the distribution and modification of impact ejecta are sensitive to variable environmental and geologic surface conditions. Here we examine the scale dependency of orbital versus field‐based remote sensing data sets of a terrestrial impact structure by comparing low‐resoluti...

Lake Bosumtwi in tropical Ghana has been known for its recurrent fish kills, but they have recently been reported to happen less frequently. The lake formed in a meteorite impact crater in Ghana, West Africa. It plays an important role for the local inhabitants for recreation and for fisheries. The lake is deep, and recent observations indicate tha...

Religion, astronomy, and philosophy are just a few fields of human thought that have understood falling as a physical phenomenon and a symbolic idea. In the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, falling is often viewed as a moral and spiritual descent, particularly in the narrative of the Book of Enoch, where the fall of angels represents disobedience and...

Astropedology is the study of soils on other planetary bodies and stretches the definition of soil to materials on the surface of a planetary body altered in place by physical, chemical, or biological processes. This new disciplinary name was coined by Roy E. Cameron in 1966 from studies of desert soils and their microbes in Arizona and Antarctica...

A complete stone of 14 kg with a moderately fresh fusion crust was found on March 15, 2023 by the meteorite hunter Ali Lamghari in a flat area called Bir Oueld Moumna, about 10 km southeast of the city of Boujdour, Western Sahara (GPS coordinates 26°05.81’N, 14°25.13’W). The area was revisited during a systematic prospecting mission by a team from...

The depletion of moderately volatile elements (MVEs) in terrestrial planets remains poorly understood, with explanations including partial nebular condensation and MVE loss during planetesimal differentiation or collisions. In this study, we use magmatic iron meteorites to reconstruct the MVE inventory of the earliest inner [noncarbonaceous (NC)] a...

Chondritic meteorites (chondrites) contain evidence for the interaction of liquid water with the interiors of small bodies early in Solar System history. Here we review the processes, products and timings of the low-temperature aqueous alteration reactions in CR, CM, CI and ungrouped carbonaceous chondrites, the asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, and hydra...

Lunar picritic glass erupted during ancient (3.3-3.7 Ga) volcanic fire-fountain events [1]. These glasses are widely accepted to have originated from low-degree partial melting of cumulate mantle sources, providing valuable insights into the physical and chemical nature of the lunar mantle [2]. The pressure-temperature conditions (P-Ts) of mantle s...

Asteroid discoveries are essential for planetary-defense efforts aiming to prevent impacts with Earth, including the more frequent megaton explosions from decameter impactors. While large asteroids ($\geq$100 km) have remained in the main belt since their formation, small asteroids are commonly transported to the near-Earth object (NEO) population....

The Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide was estab-lished in 1996 and is comprehensive of three sections characterised by different scientific aims: bi-ology and ecology (Genova section), Earth sciences (Siena section), and marine geology and Antarctic exploration (Trieste section). More than 1,500 specimens of meteorites are pre-served at the Siena sect...

This paper revisits Claudius Ptolemy's depiction of Germania Magna through a multidisciplinary approach, integrating computer-aided distortion analysis of Donnus Nicolaus Germanus's medieval cartography with geological insights. The study proposes that the region underwent significant and complex transformations, likely influenced by tectonic activ...

The root of the English word ‘object’ is a compound of the Latin prefix, ob, meaning in front of, and jacere, meaning to throw. This applies to the word both as a verb: to oppose, I object to [x], and as a noun: a “tangible thing, something perceived with or presented to the senses.”[1] In both cases, the definition of ‘object’ invokes a relationsh...

Active asteroid (6478) Gault underwent outbursts between late 2018 and early 2019 with tails morphologically similar to the ejecta from Dimorphous following the Double Asteroid Redirection Test impact. Multiple studies investigated the dust properties, confirmed that Gault is an S-type Phocaea-family asteroid, and obtained a ∼2.5 hr rotation period...

Significant recent discoveries of a large group of high-pressure (HP) minerals are reviewed. These minerals can be classified into two genetic types: those formed in shocked meteorites and impact craters and those formed under static P-T conditions and found as inclusions in diamonds. Of particular interest are the HP-polymorphic modifications of m...

Magnesium phosphate grains, minor accessory minerals found on the primitive meteorite Yamato 980115 (Y 980115), were investigated by Raman microspectroscopy. All magnesium phosphate grains found in the present study can be assigned to farringtonite, dehydrated magnesium phosphate Mg 3 (PO 4 ) 2 -I. Since the Mg 3 (PO 4 ) 2 -I is generally formed vi...

Organic matter in meteorites reveals clues about early Solar System chemistry and the origin of molecules important to life, but terrestrial exposure complicates interpretation. Samples returned from the B-type asteroid Bennu by the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer mission enabled us to study...

Even during remote observations, it was found that the surface of Pluto is very heterogeneous with the albedo of individual areas of its surface in the range of 0.10-0.70. Later, these data were confirmed by images obtained with the equipment of the New Horizons spacecraft. Then it was established that the surface of Pluto went through at least thr...

The radioactive gas radon-222, a fluid and aerosol tracer in Earth’s lithosphere and atmosphere, can also reveal subtle rock physics processes in extraterrestrial environments, such as those involving water, but remains poorly constrained in planetary bodies due to the limited number of samples available. Here we measure the effective radium-226 co...

We report observations of eight Jovian irregular satellites with JWST's NIRSpec instrument: Himalia, Elara, Pasiphae, Sinope, Lysithea, Carme, Ananke, and Themisto. Irregular satellite families, which are presumed to have formed via collisions, contain various Trojan-like and C-type-asteroid-like surfaces. We sample the three largest members of the...

Photochemical isotope effects have been measured for nearly 50 years with the driving force being the understanding of natural processes. This has ranged from climate and atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, planetary atmospheres such as Mars, Titan and Jupiter, consequences for resolving solar system formation mechanisms, interstellar molecular clo...

Asteroid families provide critical clues to the nature of their original parent bodies. Ordinary chondrites, the most common meteorites to reach Earth, consist of three subtypes: H, L, and LL chondrites, offering valuable insights into the solar system's geochemical history. The Gefion Asteroid Family (GAF) has been proposed as a source for some L...

The spectral analysis of CM meteorites can help to constrain the mineralogical composition of their parent body, the C‐type asteroids. The CM2 NWA 12184 was spectrally examined employing seven complementary techniques at different spatial resolutions, including VIS‐to‐MIR reflectance and Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, the effects of space weather...

This extended abstract presents new data and arguments supporting the origin of CI carbonaceous chondrites on Mars as "Primordial Dried Lake Bottom" deposits. The connection has received new support from returned surface samples from the Bennu and Ryugu asteroids, which orbit through Mars space and would thus sample any ejecta debris cloud in Mars...

El final de los dinosaurios aconteció súbitamente, cuando sus vidas fueron interrumpidas por la visión de una gran bola de fuego que caía sobre la Tierra, y que desató un apocalipsis del que los reyes del Mesozoico no pudieron escapar. Ni la poderosa mordida del Tyrannosaurus rex ni el enorme tamaño del saurópodo Alamosaurus sanjuanensis (26 metros...

Benford's Law is a scale- and base-invariant probability distribution wherein smaller numerals occur more often than higher numerals as the first digits in many large, naturally occurring datasets. In the present study, the areas of individual meteoritic chondrules and refractory inclusions were tested for conformity to Benford's Law. Datasets of c...

CM chondrites have been subjected to numerous alteration processes including brecciation and ductile deformation. Here, we present the results of 2D and 3D petrofabric analysis across a suite of meteorites: Aguas Zarcas, Cold Bokkeveld, Lewis Cliff (LEW) 85311, Murchison, and Winchcombe. We find that chondrule‐defined petrofabrics are commonplace,...

Rationale Extraterrestrial amines and ammonia are critical ingredients for the formation of astrobiologically important compounds such as amino acids and nucleobases. However, conventional methods for analyzing the composition and isotopic ratios of volatile amines suffer from lengthy derivatization and purification procedures, high sample mass con...

We present mass spectroscopic in situ data from rocket flights of two improved ion mass spectrometers in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region. The instruments were optimized to detect large ions with a mass-to-charge ratio (m/z, mass) of up to m/z 2000 and 20 000 respectively, for analysis of meteor smoke particles. The flights were perform...

This Letter emphasizes the interconnection between terrestrial and extraterrestrial petroleomics and highlights the potential for using advanced analytical techniques to explore fundamental questions about the origins of life and composition of cosmic materials. The terms “cosmochemical petroleomics”, “cosmochemical metallopetroleomics” (or, equiva...

We present the outcome of search campaigns conducted in the Catalina Dense Collection area (DCA) located in the central depression of the Atacama Desert, Chile. The “Catalina Systematic Collection” (CSC) was assembled through systematic on‐foot searches, resulting in a total of 1599 meteorites, before pairing, collected over a surface of 6.80 km ²...

The geological, geophysical and seismological selected data and the salt layer of Upper Permian-Lower Triassic age described in boreholes in the Alexandria Depression may support the hypothesis that this regional geological structure resulted suite of an impact with a meteorite during the Upper Permian. The interpretative model of the impacted geol...

High-precision Ni isotope analyses of the differentiated andesitic meteorite Erg Chech 002 (EC 002), the oldest known crustal fragment of a planetesimal, show that short-lived ⁶⁰ Fe was present in the early solar system with an initial ⁶⁰ Fe/ ⁵⁶ Fe ratio of (7.71 ± 0.47) × 10 ⁻⁹ , which is five times more precise than previous estimates and is prop...

The radiogenic isotopic compositions of basaltic Martian meteorites (shergottites) and clinopyroxene/olivine cumulate meteorites (nakhlite/chassignites) are used to define the global evolution of Mars. However, the two main groups of meteorites demonstrate that their sources underwent divergent styles of magmatic evolution. The shergottites portray...

Much has been learned about Mars through data returned from space missions and analyses of martian meteorites. There are, however, many questions still outstanding which cannot currently be answered—including the issue of whether there is, or was, life on Mars. The return of a cache of samples—including of the atmosphere—from separate locations in...

The search for evidence of past prebiotic or biotic activity on Mars will be enhanced by the return of samples to Earth laboratories. While impressive analytical feats have been accomplished by in situ missions on the red planet, accessing the capabilities of Earth’s global laboratories will present a step change in data acquisition. Highly diagnos...

Physical materials from planetary bodies are crucial for understanding fundamental processes that constrain the evolution of the solar system, as samples can be analyzed at high precision and accuracy in Earth-based laboratories. Mars is the only planet outside of Earth from which we possess samples in the form of meteorites. Martian meteorites (n...

El impacto de un meteorito ocurrido en la Península de Yucatán hace aproximadamente 65 millones de años fue uno de los principales factores que desencadenó los eventos que dieron origen a la quinta extinción masiva, destruyendo una enorme parte de la biodiversidad de nuestro planeta Tierra. Al impactar contra la corteza terrestre, generó un cráter,...

Deeply fractured rocks of meteorite impact craters are suggested as prime niches for subsurface microbial colonization. Methane can be a product of such microbial communities and seeps of methane from impact craters on Earth are of strong interest as they act as analogs for Mars. Previous studies report signs of ancient microbial methanogenesis in...

Early solar system (SS) planetesimals constitute the parent bodies of most meteorites investigated today. Nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies of bulk meteorites have revealed a dichotomy between noncarbonaceous (NC) and carbonaceous (CC) groups. Planetesimals sampling NC and CC isotopic signatures are conventionally thought to originate from the “dry...

As some of the most ancient materials in our Solar System, chondritic meteorites offer a valuable window into the early stages of planetary formation, particularly the accretion processes that built the most primitive asteroids. Until now, high energy shocks and collisions have been invoked to explain the deformation and fragmentation of chondrules...

Understanding rock hardness on extraterrestrial planets offers valuable insights into planetary geological evolution. Rock hardness correlates with morphological parameters, which can be extracted from navigation images, bypassing the time and cost of rock sampling and return. This research proposes a machine-learning approach to predict extraterre...

The evolution of the orbits of bodies ejected from the Earth, Moon, Mercury and Mars was studied. At ejection velocities about 12-14 km/s, the fraction of bodies ejected from the Earth that fall back onto the Earth was about 0.15-0.25. The total number of bodies ejected from the Earth and delivered to the Earth and Venus probably did not differ muc...

Isotopic and chemical compositions of meteorites are fundamental for reconstructing the spatial evolution of the protoplanetary disk and for assessing the physical processes that took place in the disk during its early evolution. Ureilites, a group of achondrites, are of particular interest in this regard because they exhibit chemical and isotopic...

In abrupt and extreme loading events, such as meteorite impact or explosions, minerals undergo unique crystallographic changes known as shock metamorphism. The discovery of terrestrial impact craters relies on the unequivocal documentation of such shock effects. While shock effects for most of the rock-forming silicates have been intensely studied...

The evolution of the orbits of bodies ejected from the Earth, Moon, Mercury and Mars was studied. The probabilities of collisions of ejected bodies with planets depended on ejection velocities, ejection angles and points of ejection. At a velocity of ejection close to the parabolic velocity, most of bodies fell onto the planet from which they had b...

Plain Language Summary The Martian hemispheric dichotomy is characterized by a contrast in elevation and crustal thickness between the Northern Lowlands and Southern Highlands. The origins of this dichotomy have been a subject of debate, with various hypotheses proposed. Through the analysis of InSight marsquakes, we have made significant progress...

Geothermal targets may be found in naturally fractured rocks of meteorite impact craters hosting low temperature resources. We therefore conducted a study with the objective of evaluating the geothermal potential of the 400 million year old Charlevoix impact crater in Quebec (Canada). Finite element simulations of steady state groundwater flow and...

The effects of post-hydration heating over a broad range of temperatures are evident in many Mighei-like carbonaceous (CM) chondrites as a variety of mineral transitions. To better understand these processes and how a CM chondrite’s starting composition may have affected them, we experimentally heated two meteorites with different degrees of aqueou...

Agent-based simulations are set to describe the early biotic selection of oligomers made of monomers of different chirality. The simulations consider the spatial distribution of agents and resources, the balance of biomass of different chirality and the balance of chemical energy. Following the well-known Wald’s hypothesis, a disadvantage is attrib...

Impact cratering studies have become a highly demanding research domain in earth and planetary sciences. This requires sound knowledge of field geology, tectonics, mineralogy, petrology, stratigraphy, geophysics, geochemistry, geochronology, and remote sensing. The first recognition of a probable/possible impact structure needs to culminate in its...

Mechanical properties of minerals in planetary materials are not only interesting from a fundamental point of view but also critical to the development of future space missions. Here we present nanoindentation experiments to evaluate the hardness and reduced elastic modulus of olivine, (Mg,Fe)2SiO4, in meteorite NWA 12008, a lunar basalt. Our exper...

This thesis delves into the PRISMA initiative, addressing the complex issues related to data management and processing, and showcasing custom software solutions inspired by various filtering algorithms. It begins with an overview of the Solar System's formation and the significance of meteorites and meteors. The study details how the PRISMA network...

Icy dust particles emerge in star-forming clouds and are subsequently incorporated in protoplanetary disks, where they coagulate into larger pebbles up to millimeter in size. In the disk midplane, ices are shielded from UV radiation, but moderate levels of disk turbulence can lift small particles to the disk surface, where they can be altered, or d...

The Apollo granulite suite represents the metamorphosed products of impact-contaminated polymict and monomict lunar breccias. We combine bulk and mineral major and trace element systematics with noble gas isotopes to constrain the highland lithologies that contributed to the feldspathic granulite suite protoliths. Ferroan anorthosites dominate the...

Alongside the Chicxulub meteorite impact, Deccan volcanism is considered a primary trigger for the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction. Models suggest that volcanic outgassing of carbon and sulfur—potent environmental stressors—drove global temperature change, but the relative timing, duration, and magnitude of such change remains uncertain...

The article discusses the results of a mineralogical and petrographic study of the Borodino meteorite (H5). For the first time, meteorite minerals are described and their chemical compositions are given. The following were found in the Borodino meteorite: olivine (Fa 18.16±1.15), low-Ca pyroxene – (clino)enstatite (En 81.37±1.73, Wo 1.18±0.31), hig...

The article describes the rare, hydrated nickel hydroxychloride found on fragments of the weathering crust of the Cranbourne meteorites in Victoria. It is the third world occurrence after the Muonionalusta meteorite from northern Sweden and the Heazlewood nickel mine in Tasmania.

The Moon formed 4.5 Ga ago through a collision between proto-Earth and a planetesimal known as Theia. The compositional similarity of Earth and Moon puts tight limits on the isotopic contrast between Theia and proto-Earth, or it requires intense homogenization of Theia and proto-Earth material during and in the aftermath of the Moon-forming impact,...

Non-carbonaceous (NC) meteorites, such as enstatite and ordinary chondrites, are regarded as potential building blocks of terrestrial planets, possibly delivering volatile elements to the inner solar system. However, their parent bodies underwent intense thermal metamorphism during planet formation, raising questions about whether planets accreted...

During the site exploration for the Saarland impact, peculiar stones were excavated at a depth of approx. 30-40 cm using a metal detector. According to analyses with the SEM-EDX, these stones are rare meteorites. This short report is about these analyses of the chondritic material, which provided evidence of the extremely rare meteoritic mineral os...

The Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) 2024 PT5 is on an Earth-like orbit which remained in Earth's immediate vicinity for several months at the end of 2024. PT5's orbit is challenging to populate with asteroids originating from the Main Belt and is more commonly associated with rocket bodies mistakenly identified as natural objects or with debris ejected f...

Chiemgau meteorite crater strewn field: high-resolution digital terrain models of the impact structures (hundreds of craters, sand boils) - related to formations caused by strong tectonic earthquakes.

This thesis delves into the PRISMA initiative, addressing the complex issues related to data management and processing, and showcasing custom software solutions inspired by various filtering algorithms. It begins with an overview of the Solar System's formation and the significance of meteorites and meteors. The study details how the PRISMA network...

Meteorites have intrigued humanity for centuries, representing our enduring pursuit of knowledge and exploration of the cosmos’ enigmas. These celestial objects have not only influenced artistic expression and the formation of myths but have also fostered scientific inquiry. In this regard, meteorites are crucial to space research, offering valuabl...