Chemical compositions of large cluster IDPs
- SUNYP
We performed X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy on two large cluster IDPs, which sample the IDP parent body at a mass scale two orders-of-magnitude larger than {approx}10 {micro}m IDPs, allowing proper incorporation of larger mineral grains into the bulk composition of the parent body. We previously determined that {approx}10 {micro}m interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) collected from the Earth's stratosphere are enriched in many moderately volatile elements by a factor of {approx}3 over the CI meteorites. However, these IDP measurements provide no direct constraint on the bulk chemical composition of the parent body (or parent bodies) of the IDPs. Collisions are believed to be the major mechanism for dust production by the asteroids, producing dust by surface erosion, cratering and catastrophic disruption. Hypervelocity impact experiments at {approx}5 km/sec, which is the mean collision velocity in the main belt, performed by Flynn and Durda on ordinary chondrite meteorites and the carbonaceous chondrite meteorite Allende show that the 10 {micro}m debris is dominated by matrix material while the debris larger than {approx}25 {micro}m is dominated by chondrule fragments. Thus, if the IDP parent body is similar in structure to the chondritic meteorites, it is likely that the {approx}10 {micro}m IDPs oversample the fine-grained component of the parent body. We have examined the matrix material from the few meteorites that are sufficiently fine-grained to be samples of potential IDP parent bodies. This search has, thus far, not produced a compositional and mineralogical match to either the hydrous or anhydrous IDPs. This result, coupled with our recent mapping of the element distributions, which indicates the enrichment of moderately volatile elements is not due to contamination on their surfaces, suggests the IDPs represent a new type of extraterrestrial material. Nonetheless, the meteorite fragmentation results suggest that compositional measurements on 10 {micro}m IDPs only provide a direct constraint on the bulk chemical composition of the IDP parent body if the size-scale of the grains in the parent body is <<10 {micro}m. The stratospheric collections include many nonchondritic, mono-mineralic grains, collected along with the fine-grained chondritic IDPs. Some of these grains, which include volatile-poor olivine and pyroxene as well as calcophile-rich sulfides, have fine-grained, chondritic material (i.e., small bits of typical IDPs) adhering to their surfaces. This indicates that at least some of the non-chondritic grains found on the stratospheric collectors are fragments from the same parent as the fine-grained IDPs. Thus, the bulk composition of the IDP parent body can only be reconstructed by adding to the fine-grained, chondritic IDPs the correct amount of this non-chondritic material. Qualitatively, the addition of olivines and pyroxenes will reduce the mean content of many moderately volatile elements while the addition of sulfides will increase the content of some of these elements. However, the quantitative task of adding these monomineralic grains to the fine-grained IDPs cannot be accomplished by simply adding the non-chondritic material in proportion to its occurrence on the stratospheric collectors because: (1) it is not clear that all of the olivines, pyroxenes, sulfides or other mineral grains found on the stratospheric collectors are extraterrestrial; (2) the settling rate of a particle depends on its density and shape, thus the concentration factor for these high-density, mono-mineralic grains is lower at the collection altitude than it is for the lower-density, fine-grained aggregate IDPs; and (3) the atmospheric entry survival of a particle is a function of density, so higher density grains (e.g., sulfides) are more likely to vaporize on entry, even if they enter with the same velocity as fine-grained, lower-density aggregates. The collection of 'cluster IDPs,' which enter the atmosphere as large particles, some larger than 50 {micro}m in diameter, containing both fine-grained aggregate material and mono-mineralic grains 10 {micro}m in size and sometimes even larger, provides an opportunity to characterize the bulk chemistry and the mineralogy of the IDPs and their parent body at a significantly larger scale than we have done previously. A 10 {micro}m, porous IDP weighs only a few nanograms, while a 50 {micro}m IDP weighs about 125 times that much and frequently includes mono-mineralic grains up to at least {approx}10 {micro}m in size. By completely characterizing the composition and mineralogy of a single cluster IDP we characterize the IDP parent body at a mass scale more than two orders-of-magnitude larger than has been done by analyzing 10 {micro}m IDPs. Although most {approx}10 {micro}m IDPs are not significantly altered by atmospheric deceleration, modeling indicates only {approx}10% of 50 {micro}m IDPs with a density of 1 g/cc are not heated above 1000 K on entry.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 1008979
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Lunar and Plnetary Science XXXVII;March 13-17, 2006;Houston, Texas
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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