Abundance and isotopic composition of noble gases in metal and graphite of the Bohumilitz IAB iron meteorite

Abstract

Abstract— Abundances and isotopic compositions of noble gases in metal and graphite of the Bohumilitz IAB iron meteorite were measured. The abundance ratios of spallogenic components in metal reveal a 3He deficiency which is due to the diffusive loss of parent isotopes, that is, tritium (Tilles, 1963; Schultz, 1967). The diffusive loss likely has been induced by thermal heating by the Sun during cosmic‐ray exposure (∼160 Ma; Lavielle et al, 1999). Thermal process such as impact‐induced partial loss may have affected the isotopic composition of spallogenic Ne. The 129Xe/131Xe ratio of cosmogenic components in the metal indicates an enhanced production of epi‐thermal neutrons.The abundance ratios of spallogenic components in the graphite reveal that it contained small amounts of metal and silicates. The isotopic composition of heavy noble gases in graphite itself was obtained from graphite treated with HF/HCl. The isotopic composition of the etched graphite shows that it contains two types of primordial Xe (i.e., Q‐Xe and El Taco Xe). The isotopic heterogeneity preserved in the Bohumilitz graphite indicates that the Bohumilitz graphite did not experience any high‐temperature event and, consequently, must have been emplaced into the metal at subsolidus temperatures. This situation is incompatible with an igneous model as well as the impact melting models for the IAB‐IIICD iron meteorites as proposed by Choi et al. (1995) and Wasson et al (1980).