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Nitrogen-rich organics from comets probed by ultra-carbonaceous Antarctic micrometeorites

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Abstract

The nature of the organic matter in interplanetary samples is central to elucidating the formation and early evolution of the Solar System. Although most meteorites derive from asteroids, micrometeorites mainly sample more remote objects. Ultra-carbonaceous Antarctic micrometeorites (UCAMMs), which have the highest carbon content among interplanetary samples, offer a unique window into cometary organics. Here we report a survey of the H, C and N isotopes in four UCAMMs, of which two are 15N-poor (δ15N ≃ −120‰), which suggests that their formation involved primordial N2 (δ15N ≃ −380‰). Such a composition could be the result of Galactic cosmic ray irradiation of N2 ices at the surface of cold small bodies in the outermost parts of the Solar System, possibly the Oort cloud. The two other UCAMMs exhibit higher δ15N (75‰ and 282‰), like those reported for carbonaceous chondrites and interplanetary dust particles. They may originate from parent bodies initially on lower heliocentric orbits in the Kuiper belt that have surfaces cold enough to retain N-bearing species, such as cyanides (δ15N ≥ 200‰), that are richer in 15N than primordial N2. According to their elemental and isotopic composition, UCAMMs constitute a unique probe into the coldest objects of the Solar System, namely those in the Kuiper Belt and the Oort cloud, which are largely out of reach of current space exploration.

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Fig. 1: Secondary electron images of UCAMM fragments analysed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry.
Fig. 2: Fragment of UCAMM DC06-94 crushed on gold and analysed by NanoSIMS.
Fig. 3: Isotopic compositions of UCAMMs DC06-94 (grey), DC06-43 (blue), DC06-18 (green) and DC16-309 (red).
Fig. 4: Comparison of the C and N isotopic composition of the four analysed UCAMMs with literature data.
Fig. 5: Sketch of the formation of UCAMM N-rich OM.

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Data availability

The data presented in the paper are provided in Supplementary Table 1 and are available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12626220 (ref. 55).

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Acknowledgements

The micrometeorites were collected at Concordia Station (Project No. 1120), and their collection was supported by the French Polar Institute (IPEV). We are grateful to IPEV for financial support and to IPEV and National Antarctic Research Program staff for logistical help. This work was financially supported by the French National Agency for Research (Project COMETOR 18-CE31-0011), Région Île-de-France (Major Interest Area ACAV+ under Project C3E), the French National Centre for Space Studies and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (French National Institute for Earth Sciences and Astronomy, the Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium Program, the National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics and the Laboratory of Excellence for Physics of the Two Infinite and of Origins). L.R. thanks the European Research Council for funding (Project HYDROMA under Grant Agreement No. 819587). The NanoSIMS facility in Paris was established by funds from the French National Centre for Scientific Research, Région Île-de-France, Ministère délégué à l’Enseignement Supérieur et à la Recherche, and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle. We acknowledge the CurieCore Tech for the use of Curie-NanoSIMS. J.R. thanks G. Slodzian for his help and precious insights on the NanoSIMS instrument and data treatment.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ. Paris-Saclay, CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab, Orsay, France

    J. Rojas, C. Engrand, N. Bardin, L. Delauche & B. Guérin

  2. Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington DC, USA

    J. Rojas & L. R. Nittler

  3. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Univ., UMR CNRS 7590, IMPMC, Paris, France

    J. Duprat, S. Mostefaoui & L. Remusat

  4. Univ. Paris-Saclay, CNRS, ISMO, Orsay, France

    E. Dartois

  5. Institut Curie, PSL Univ., Univ. Paris-Saclay, CNRS UAR2016, Inserm US43, Multimodal Imaging Center, Orsay, France

    T-D. Wu

  6. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    L. R. Nittler & R. M. Stroud

  7. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC, USA

    R. M. Stroud

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Contributions

J.D., E.D. and C.E. conceived and designed the study. J.D., E.D., C.E. and L.D. participated in the fieldwork and the selection of samples. L.D., J.R. and B.G. performed the scanning electron microscopy of the samples. L.R.N., T.-D.W., L.R. and S.M. conceived and performed the NanoSIMS experiments. L.R.N., L.R. and J.D. provided the standards. J.R., N.B. and J.D. participated in the NanoSIMS experiments. R.M.S. performed the focused ion beam microscopy of the samples. J.R. analysed and interpreted the data. J.R., J.D., E.D., C.E., L.R.N., R.M.S. and L.R. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to J. Rojas.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Isotopic maps of DC06-18.

(a, b, c) δD, δ15N and δ13C maps of the first fragment of DC06-18. (d, e, f) δD, δ15N and δ13C maps of the second fragment of DC06-18. (g, h, i) δD, δ15N and δ13C maps of the third fragment of DC06-18. The white scale bar is 5 µm.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Isotopic maps of DC06-43.

(a, b, c) δD, δ15N and δ13C maps. The white scale bar is 2 µm.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Isotopic maps of DC16-309.

(a, b, c) δD, δ15N and δ13C maps. The white scale bar is 1 µm.

Extended Data Fig. 4 δ13C versus δD isotopic composition of the 4 UCAMMs presented in this paper.

DC06-94, DC06-43, DC06-18 and DC16-309 are plotted in gray, blue, green, and red, respectively. Histograms in the margins indicate the analyzed area in µm² (in log scale). Data points are the mean isotopic ratios measured in individual regions of interest +/- one standard deviation (Methods-Data reduction and Supplementary Table). Isodensity contours of the density functions at 5% (threshold), 33% and 66% are displayed by the solid lines.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Comparison of the H and N isotopic compositions measured in UCAMMs with literature data.

DC06-94, DC06-43, DC06-18 and DC16-309 are displayed with gray, blue, green, and red contours, respectively. Literature data for IDPs10,14,15 are plotted with gray dots. IOM of CR, CM, CI and CO chondrites1 are plotted with orange, red, yellow and pink diamonds, respectively. The bulk Ryugu composition18 is displayed by the yellow star. Error bars are one standard deviation.

Extended Data Fig. 6 Comparison of the C and N isotopic composition of the 4 analyzed UCAMMs with literature data.

(a, b) DC06-94, DC06-43, DC06-18 and DC16-309 are in gray, blue, green and red contours. Literature data for IDPs (a) and carbonaceous matter from meteorites (b) are superimposed. Bulk IDPs10,11,12,13,14,15 and hotspots in IDPs11,12,13,14 are indicated in the panel a) as dark gray dots and yellow dots with one standard deviation error bars. Bulk IOM data are indicated as large diamonds in orange (CR), red (CM), yellow (CI) and pink (CO)1. Carbonaceous grains in CR, CM, CI and CO3,5,6,7,8,9 are indicated as small diamonds with the same color code. The average composition of carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu grains18 from the Hayabusa2 JAXA return sample mission is reported as a yellow star. The shaded area and the ellipse represent the range of variation of the solar δ15N and δ13C value.

Extended Data Fig. 7 H (left), N (middle) and C (right) isotopic compositions of the 4 UCAMMs plotted against their analyzed surfaces.

Red: DC16-309; blue: DC06-43; green: DC06-18; gray: DC06-94.

Extended Data Fig. 8 Comparison of the H, C and N isotopic composition of UCAMMs and Ryugu grains.

(a) N and H isotopic compositions. (b) N and C isotopic compositions. UCAMMs are displayed with grey, red, blue, and green circles. Ryugu samples18 are plotted with yellow circles. The size of the circles indicates the size of the measured ROIs in UCAMMs and Ryugu grains. The bulk composition of the C-rich particles in Ryugu grains is displayed by a star. The distinct N and C isotopic compositions evidenced in UCAMMs are observed at small scale in Ryugu grains.

Extended Data Table 1 Characteristics of the NanoSIMS acquisitions
Full size table

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

Ion counts and H, C and N isotopic ratios measured in the ROIs defined on the four UCAMMs.

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Rojas, J., Duprat, J., Dartois, E. et al. Nitrogen-rich organics from comets probed by ultra-carbonaceous Antarctic micrometeorites. Nat Astron (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02364-y

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