Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in meteoritic organic matter: indicators of alteration processes on the parent asteroid

Macromolecular organic materials in chondrites display significant variations in carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. In recent years, these variations have been interpreted as a record of aqueous and thermal processing on asteroids shortly after the birth of the Solar System. In this paper we revie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of astrobiology 2004-07, Vol.3 (3), p.221-227
Main Authors: Sephton, Mark A., Verchovsky, Alexander B., Wright, Ian P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asteroids
Nitrogen
Organic matter
Stable isotopes
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Summary:Macromolecular organic materials in chondrites display significant variations in carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. In recent years, these variations have been interpreted as a record of aqueous and thermal processing on asteroids shortly after the birth of the Solar System. In this paper we review and summarize the key data and main interpretative approaches related to this study area. Armed with these methods we attempt to reinterpret the whole rock chondrite data set in the literature.
ISSN:1473-5504
1475-3006
DOI:10.1017/S1473550404002174