The behavior of carbonaceous matter in Tagish Lake Meteorite at high P-T: implications for the survivability of organics during petrological processes and origin of life

Abstract:

Recent models of planets formation have faced the possibility that (volatile-rich) carbonaceous chondrites are the possible carrier of water and complex carbon molecules. The Tagish Lake (TL) meteorite is a classified C2 ungroup chondrite whose bulk and organic chemistry compositions have received a considerable attention owing to the short-time exposure before being collected. TL is likely representative of D-type asteroids known to contain complex organic compounds, and was described including aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons considered to be building blocks of life (Gilmour 2001; Pizzarello et al. 2001). Recent studies on the spatial distribution and mineralogical association of organics in TL meteorites show a certain affinity of organic compounds for S-bearing phases such as Fe-Ni sulfide coexisting with abundant carbonate (Ca-Mg-Fe-Mn solid solution), magnetite and serpentine (Zega et al. 2010). In particular, carbonate is believed to form from the organic matter during hydrothermal alteration with implications for the carbon (C) isotopic signature. Therefore, the knowledge of how carbonaceous matter survived during the history of a meteorite at extreme pressures-temperatures is of fundamental importance to solve the mystery of the origin of life.

In order to investigate the behavior of carbonaceous matter and to constrain the stability and structural evolution of organics and in Tagish Lake meteorite during petrological processes (melting, solid state reaction etc.), we carried heating experiments at 5 GPa and temperature between 800-1400 °C using multi anvil apparatus at GRC, Ehime University. The recovered samples were polished for textural and chemical characterization of the mineral phases using FE-SEM and electron microprobe, respectively. Ultra-thin sections, 80–100 nm thick, were prepared from the recovered samples using focused ion beam. These sections were then transferred to TEM grids for in situ X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) analyses of carbon at the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (beamline BL5.3.2.2). Preliminary results show an increase in the aromatic component (A) with development of graphene structure (E) after high temperature and pressure experiment.