Noble Gases in the Fayetteville Meteorite

Author

Oliver Manuel, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow

Abstract

Noble gases were extracted from the dark portions of Fayetteville by heating the sample to successively higher temperatures up to 1600°C. Analyses of the neon evolved at each temperature indicate that this gas is a mixture of at least three components. It is shown that the isotopic composition of neon observed could be produced from a mixture of primordial neon, cosmogenic neon, and highly mass-fractionated primordial neon. The isotopic composition of helium, neon and argon indicate a primordial component for which He³:He⁴ ≤ 0.00031, Ar³⁸:Ar³⁶ ≤ 0.177, Ne²⁰:Ne²² ≥ 12.6, and Ne²¹:Ne²² ≥ 0.033. The xenon spectra show an excess of the heavy xenon isotopes with a mass yield curve intermediate between that observed in Pasamonte and that in the earth's atmosphere. It is shown that this atmosphere-like xenon component is not due to contamination but is definitely a component of meteoritic xenon.

Recommended Citation

O. Manuel, "Noble Gases in the Fayetteville Meteorite," Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 31, pp. 2413 - 2431, Elsevier Limited, Dec 1967.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(67)90012-9

Department(s)

Chemistry

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0016-7037

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 1967 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Dec 1967