Relations between aliphatics and silicate components in 12 stratospheric particles deduced from vibrational spectroscopy

Journal Article · Fri Jan 10 04:00:00 EST 2014 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/780/2/174· OSTI ID:22348204

Merouane, S.; Djouadi, Z.

Interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) are among the most pristine extraterrestrial samples available in the laboratory for analyses with moderate to high spatial- and spectral-resolution spectroscopic techniques. Their composition can provide precious information on the early stages of the solar nebula as well as on the processes on the surfaces of different small bodies in the solar system from which IDPs originate. In this work, we have analyzed six anhydrous IDPs and six stratospheric particles possibly of cosmic origin through infrared (IR) and Raman micro-spectroscopy to study and investigate their silicate and organic components. We find that the length/ramification of the aliphatic organics given by the CH{sub 2}/CH{sub 3} ratios in the IDPs is closely linked to the silicate family (pyroxene or olivine) present in the samples. Both IR and Raman data suggest that this relation is not correlated with either aqueous (as evidenced by the absence of aqueous related minerals) or thermal processes (as deduced from Raman measurements). Therefore, this observation might be related to the initial path of formation of the organics on the silicate surfaces, thus tracing a possible catalytic role that silicates would play in the formation and/or ramification of organic matter in the primitive nebula.

• OSTI ID: 22348204
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 780; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
DUSTS
INFRARED RADIATION
METEORITES
METEOROIDS
ORGANIC MATTER
PARTICLES
RAMAN SPECTRA
RESOLUTION
SOLAR NEBULA
SOLAR SYSTEM
SPECTROSCOPY
SURFACES