Thermal history of asteroids inferred from aliphatic and aromatic carbon

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K17794
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Geochemistry/Cosmochemistry
• Research Institution: Yokohama National University
• Principal Investigator: Kebukawa Yoko 横浜国立大学, 大学院工学研究院, 准教授 (70725374)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 隕石 / 小惑星 / 有機物

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Organic matter in meteorites preserves records of the thermal history of their parent asteroids. The aim of this study is estimations of time and temperature ranges of meteorite parent asteroids using two individual indicators; decreases in aliphatic moiety and increase in aromaticity, obtained from organic matter in meteorites.
We did heating experiments using one of the most primitive and organic rich meteorites, and analyzed using Raman spectrometer. However, we need more experimental data set to obtain precise kinetic expressions using Raman spectral parameters. Thus we are planning to continue this study. We also obtained tentative time and temperature ranges for two meteorites that were considered to be subjected to short time heating.

Free Research Field

宇宙地球化学