Abstract
Meteorites are the recoverable portions of asteroids that reach the surface of the Earth. Meteorites are rare extraterrestrial objects studied extensively to improve our understanding of planetary evolution. In this work, we used calibration-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (CF-LIBS) to evaluate the quantitative elemental and molecular analyses of the Dergaon meteorite, a H 4-5 chondrite fall sample from Assam, India. Spectral signatures of H, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, andIrweredetected. Along with the atomic emission, this work reports the molecular emission from FeO molecules. The concentration of the measured elements obtained using CF-LIBS is in close agreement with earlier reports. The elements H, N, and O and their concentrations are estimated by using CF-LIBS for the first time. This study applies laser spectroscopy to establish the presence of Ni, Cr, Co, and Ir in meteorites. The elemental analysis forms the basis for the establishment of the potential molecular composition of the Dergaon meteorite. Moreover, the elemental analysis approach bodes well for in-situ analyses of extraterrestrial objects including applications in planetary rover missions.
Highlights
Meteorites are the recoverable portions of asteroids that reach the surface of the Earth.The meteorites that are observed to fall and are collected are classified as “falls”
calibration-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (CF-laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)) can analyze meteorite samples that are not easy to treat by traditional analytical techniques
We have quantified the presence of characteristic elements in the above meteorite using the CF-LIBS technique
Summary
Meteorites are the recoverable portions of asteroids that reach the surface of the Earth. In addition to about 92%of the volume of mineral phases, glass constitutes about 8% of the total volume [3] It is a relatively well studied chondritic meteorite [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] possessing some interesting characteristics, such as potassium-depletion associated with vesiculated feldspars and the presence of aliphatic hydrocarbons [8,9] and nano-diamonds [10], observed using conventional analytical techniques including Gamma Ray, FTIR, and Laser Raman. CF-LIBS can analyze meteorite samples that are not easy to treat by traditional analytical techniques Using this approach, the traditional calibration curve is not required to quantify the elements present in the sample. We have quantified the presence of characteristic elements in the above meteorite using the CF-LIBS technique
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