[meteorite-list] organics in Murchison

From: Zelimir Gabelica <Zelimir.Gabelica_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:33:31 +0100
Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.2.20061205154224.03dc3058_at_pop.univ-mulhouse.fr>

Hello Bernd, List,

I finally happend to solve my mail connection problems with the List and
with many of you in the US as well. I am aware I owe answers to many of you
over there (Bob Verish in particular). Please be patient for a few more days.

Referring to the recent posts about NWA 2140 and its "bibble-gum"-like
smelling, and to the now extended debate towards the famous Murchison
content of many aromatic molecules documented in the appropriate literature
and popularized in Haag's text, I wish to send an info and a request

1) Info (brief summary):
With a couple of specialized scientists, we will soon start an original
reserach dealing with a quantitative analysis of traces (in the ppm and
even in the ppb range) of organic molecules in meteorites.
We will be using, for the first time, and in combination with other
techniques, an Electro-Spray MS instrument that has the highest possible
resolution (equipped with a 15 Tesla generator). No details needed here but
I believe specialists could appreciate. This prototype was built in Munich
and is about ready for various preliminary test experiments.

We had planned to examine some typical carbonaceous chondrites (also
others, later) that contain various organic (volatile or specific
solvent-soluble) "original" (= exclusively extra-terrestrial) molecules. It
is of the utmost importance that the samples are as little contaminated as
possible.
We opted in particular for Murchison, probably the richest in such
compounds and the most documented, that we envisage, in a first step, to
use as reference to "calibrate" the machine.
I could provide more details on this study in due time but this roughly
summarizes what we will be dealing with, soon.

I do have Murchison, a 34.7 g, 80% crusted and fully oriented sample,
coming from the old Reeves collection and got from David New in 1995. It is
too pity to use it for destruction (grinding) for this study. It still
smells "hydrocarbons" (undefined but pleasent smell).
I have another 1.5 g thin slice of the same (40x27x1 mm complete slice)
(from Eric Twelker, 2006) but it is probably too thin and thereby likely to
be devoid from (some?...many ?) organics.

2) Request:
Before we envisage to contact some official Institute for sample donation
for study, we first decided to try simple:
We wish to purchase from a reliable source a fragment of Murchison, about 1
g or, better, 2 grams chunk, thick enough and possibly well preserved so as
to still potentionally contain originel organics. The piece can be a
crumble and ugly; it will be powdered and thus lost as collectible.
Any fair offer at the "most friendly" price will be considered.

I also gladly accept comments and advices from specialists from this List.
The results (exciting by essence as we expect to detect traces of some
"odds" as well), when finalized and possibly published in some specialized
journal, will be also proposed for publication as a more popularized note
in "Meteorite".

Many thanks in advance.

Best wishes,

Zelimir


A 12:17 05/12/2006 +0000, bernd.pauli at paulinet.de a ?crit :
>HAAG ROBERT (1997) Field Guide of Meteorites
>(10th + 12th Anniversary Editions, 1991 + 1997, p. 36):
>
>Betty Maslin, a Murchison, Australia resident, displays the smelly rocks that
>landed on the outskirts of town one Sunday morning in September, 1969.
>Detonations and "hissing" noises were heard when the fireball exploded and
>smoke rings were seen hanging in the air. Some 700 kilos of stones rained
>out of the sky, covering 33 square kilometers, and stinking up the town with
>the smell of methylated spirits. (Betty and her father found the two largest
>pieces by the road.) The jar Mrs. Maslin is holding had been sealed for ten
>years, and when I opened it, the smell of alcohol and ether was still strong
>enough to nearly put me under.
>
>Hello List,
>
>For those list members who don't have these field guides, I'm going to send
>the picture from Bob's Field Guide to Jeff Kuyken who can then upload it for
>everyone to have a look. Thanks in advance, Jeff!
>
>Cheers,
>
>Bernd
>
>______________________________________________
>Meteorite-list mailing list
>Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list

Prof. Zelimir Gabelica
Universit? de Haute Alsace
ENSCMu, Lab. GSEC,
3, Rue A. Werner,
F-68093 Mulhouse Cedex, France
Tel: +33 (0)3 89 33 68 94
Fax: +33 (0)3 89 33 68 15
Received on Tue 05 Dec 2006 10:33:31 AM PST