Heterogeneity of grain-size fractions of nanodiamonds from the Orgueil C1 meteorite

Abstract

A model for the composition of meteoritic nanodiamonds is suggested based on analysis of the concentrations and isotopic compositions of C, N, and Xe in the nanodiamond-rich grain-size fractions, which were separated for the first time from the Orgueil CI chondrite. According to the model, meteoritic nanodiamond consists of two populations of grains (denoted CHL and CN). The size distributions of grains in populations in the CHL and CN populations are different: the CHL population is finer grained than CN. The grains of the CHL population are characterized by a radial gradient in the carbon isotopic composition, and they contain implanted anomalous noble gases (HL component) and the heavy nitrogen isotope 15N. Following (Clayton et al., 1995), the probable astrophysical source of this population of nanodiamond grains is thought to be the mixing helium and hydrogen shells of a Type-II supernova, and the mechanism that produced these grains was the slow CVD process. The CN population grains have homogeneous isotopic compositions of carbon (δ13C ≡–100‰) and nitrogen (δ15N ≡–400‰) and contain almost all nitrogen of the nanodiamond-rich fractions. This population of nanodiamond grains was likely formed by a fast unequilibrated process, when shock waves affected organic compounds or gas rich in C- and N-bearing compounds during the early evolution of the protosolar nebula. Calculations within the framework of the model show that the nanodiamond-rich fractions separated from the Orgueil meteorite have the CN/CHL ratios varying from 1 in the finest grained fraction to 10 in the coarse-grained one. At these proportions of the populations, weighted mean δ13C values of CHL grains in the fractions lie within the range of 42 to 394‰, and the concentrations of 132Xe-HL and 15N are (49–563) × 10–8 cm3/gC and (1.1–6.2) × 10–5 cm3/gC, respectively.