The role of carbon and oxygen in cosmic gases: some applications to the chemistry and mineralogy of enstatite chondrites |
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| Authors: | John W Larimer Mary Bartholomay |
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| Institution: | Center for Meteorite Studies and Department of Geology Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281 U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | A new condensation sequence appears if the ratio in a gas of otherwise solar composition is increased by less than a factor of two. As the ratio increases from the solar value of 0.6 to ? 1 the gas becomes extremely reduced, the condensation temperatures of silicates and oxides are depressed markedly ～ 400 K and a new suite of refractory minerals appears: AIN, CaS, MgS, SiC, TiN, graphite, Si2N2O and probably metastable (Fe,Ni)3C. Many of these minerals are unique to enstatite chondrites and may be analogues of the refractory silicates and oxides found in more oxidized meteorites such as Allende.The change in chemistry is related to the stability of CO, the most stable C or O compound at high T. Since the elements occur in a 1:1 ratio in CO, only the element which is in excess is free to form other compounds. But as T decreases CO reacts with H2 to form graphite, CH4 or other hydrocarbons thereby freeing O to form H2O. If equilibrium is maintained oxides and silicates form at about 1000 K (, Pτ = 10?4atm) as products of reactions among the carbides, nitrides, sulfides and the gas. The possibility that equilibrium was not maintained among the C-bearing species was also investigated. If either graphite or CH4 does not form as predicted the stability fields of the reduced minerals expands to lower temperatures. If neither graphite nor CH4 form as predicted, CO remains stable and the nebular gas is highly reduced at all temperatures.Enstatite chondrites appear to have originated in a region of the nebula where the ratio was somewhat higher than the solar value. Various fractionation mechanisms are considered. An interesting possibility is that graphite, which is quite refractory under a wide range of conditions, survived the collapse of the solar nebula. |
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