A potentially new type of nonchondritic interplanetary dust particle with hematite, organic carbon, amorphous Na,Ca-aluminosilicate, and FeO-spheres

Abstract

We used a combination of different analytical techniques to study particle W7190-D12 using microinfrared spectroscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The particle consists mainly of hematite (α-Fe 2O 3) with considerable variations in structural disorder. It further contains amorphous (Na,K)-bearing Ca,Al-silicate and organic carbon. Iron-bearing spherules (<150nm in diameter) cover the surface of this particle. At local sites of structural disorder at the hematite surface, the hematite spheres were reduced to FeO in the presence of organic carbons forming FeO-spheres. However, metallic Fe spheres cannot be excluded based on the available data. To the best of our knowledge, this particle is the first detection of such spherules at the surface of a stratospheric dust particle. Although there is no definitive evidence for an extraterrestrial origin of particle W7190-D12, we suggest that it could be an IDP that had moved away from the asteroid-forming region of the early solar system into the outer solar system of the accreting Kuiper Belt objects. After it was released from a Jupiter family comet, this particle became part of the zodiacal cloud. Atmospheric entry flash-heating caused (1) the formation of microenvironments of reduced iron oxide when indigenous carbon materials reacted with hematite covering its surface resulting in the formation of FeO-spheres and (2) Na-loss from Na,Al-plagioclase. The particle of this study, and other similar particles on this collector, may represent a potentially new type of nonchondritic IDPs associated with Jupiter family comets, although an origin in the asteroid belt cannot be ignored. © 2012 The Meteoritical Society.