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Radionuclides in the Tissint Meteorite: Implications for Its Martian Origin

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Radionuclides in the Tissint Meteorite: Implications for Its Martian Origin 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2019 (LPI Contrib. No. 2132) 1905.pdf RADIONUCLIDES IN THE TISSINT METEORITE: IMPLICATIONS FOR ITS MARTIAN ORIGIN. P. P. Povinec1, C. Koeberl2,3, A. J. T. Jull4,5, I. Sýkora1, L. Ferrière2 and A. Kováčik1,6, 1Dept. of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, Comenius University, 84248 Bratislava, Slovakia ([email protected]), 2Natural History Museum, 1010 Vienna, Austria ([email protected]; [email protected]), 3Dept. of Lithospheric Re- search, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria, 4Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA, 5ICER, Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 4026 Debrecen, Hungary, 6MicroStep-MIS, 84104 Bratislava, Slovakia. Introduction: Martian meteorites were ejected anticoincidence mode in a large low background from the planet Mars by the impact of asteroids or lead/polyethylene/copper shield with dimensions of comets before they finally landed on the Earth. They 1.5 × 1.5 × 2 m was used [9]. Detailed descriptions of carry information on the composition and characteris- the calibration and corrections are given by [10]. The tics of Mars surface and subsurface depending of the quoted uncertainties of the results are mainly due to crystallization and ejection depth, and therefore they counting statistics; the measuring time was 10 days for are unique samples, as there are currently no other the large sample and 14 days for the smaller one. possibilities to investigate the subsurface of Mars. For the 14C analyses, a 188 mg sample, from the These meteorites have elemental and isotopic composi- NHM-Vienna_Tis10 fragment, was selected for AMS tions similar to rocks analyzed by spacecrafts and also measurements. The cosmogenic 14C was extracted in a contain trapped atmospheric gases similar to the Mar- RF induction furnace in a flow of oxygen, and passing tian atmosphere. Of more than 60,000 meteorites cur- the evolved gases over a CuO furnace to ensure con- rently known, only 224 are of Martian origin (some of version to CO2. This gas was collected and measured them are paired); they are divided by chemical and volumetrically. The CO2 was then converted to graph- mineralogical properties into three main groups, with ite and analyzed on a 3 MV AMS machine at the Uni- more than three-quarters being shergottites [1–7]. versity of Arizona (USA). The full procedure for 14C Tissint, a recent fall on July 18, 2011 in Morocco, measurements is given in [11, 12]. is an olivine-phyric basalt, consisting mainly of olivine Results: The results are presented in Table 1. phenocrysts in a fine-grained pyroxene-maskelynite Several gamma-lines were identified in the gamma-ray matrix, with minor chromite, ilmenite, pyrrhotite, and spectra representing 22Na, 26Al, and 54Mn. The activi- phosphates [1, 5]. Tissint is heavily shocked, showing ties of 22Na, 26Al, and 54Mn measured in both frag- shock-melt veins and pockets, the result of multiple ments were similar within 1σ statistical uncertainties. shock events [1, 2, 5, 6]. The average 22Na and 26Al activities in the small and Here we report on our investigation of primordial large samples are 65.4±4.6 and 36.9±3.1 dpm/kg, re- (40K, 232Th, and 238U), and cosmogenic radionuclides spectively. The 22Na/26Al activity ratio for the large with half-lives from about one year to about 0.7 Myr, sample (i.e., measured with better precision) is which were analyzed by non-destructive gamma-ray 1.89±0.05, which is higher than typical values for H spectrometry (54Mn, 22Na, 60Co, and 26Al) and by Ac- chondrites (i.e., 1.5), averaged for several 11-yr solar celerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) (14C). cycles between 1970 and 2000 [13]. The higher Samples and Methods: Two fragments of the 22Na/26Al activity ratio observed for Tissint can be Tissint meteorite, both from the NHM Vienna collec- explained by an unsaturated production of 26Al, which tion, with masses of 37.7 and 908.7 g (samples N9412 was caused by its short cosmic-ray exposure age, as and N9388, respectively) were used for the present discussed in the next paragraphs. Unfortunately, short- work. The bulk main elemental composition (i.e., Fe, lived radionuclides with half-lives shorter than one Mg, Ca, Al, and Mn) of Tissint is similar to other de- year had already decayed when we conducted our pleted olivine-phyric shergottites [1]. When compared measurements, and their activities were below detec- to H type ordinary chondrites, the abundance of these tion limits. The 60Co radionuclide (possible indicator elements are lower by a factor of about two, however, of the burial depth of the specimen) was not identified, for Co, its concentration is 10x lower [8]. only detection limits could be reported, <0.2 and <1.9 Gamma-spectrometry analyses of the two frag- dpm/kg (at 90 % confidence level), for the large and ments of the Tissint meteorite were carried out in the the small specimens, respectively. The 14C measure- Low-Level Gamma-Spectrometry Laboratory of the ments of 42.6±0.4 dpm/kg are in agreement with ex- Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics of the pectations. The average activities of the primordial Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia). A low- radionuclides in the Tissint meteorite are 280±50 background HPGe detector with relative detection ef- dpm/kg for 40K, 2.4±0.6 dpm/kg for 238U, and 1.8±0.6 ficiency of 70% operated in the coincidence- 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2019 (LPI Contrib. No. 2132) 1905.pdf dpm/kg for 232Th, comparable to the average concen- for the estimation of the CRE age of the Tissint trations given in [8]. meteorite. Although we have only 26Al measurements in two samples with unknown depths in the meteoroid, Table 1. Cosmogenic radionuclides in Tissint samples. we can expect at least for the large sample (i.e., Mass 22Na 26Al 54Mn 60Co# 14C because of its large size and the small radius of the (g) (dpm/kg) meteoroid) its position to have been close to the 37.7 62.3±4. 37.7±2. 52.4±7. <1.9 meteoroid surface. The calculated CRE exposure age 0 8 6 908.7 68.5±2. 36.2±1. 55.7±2. <0.2 42.6±0.4 of 0.9±0.3 Myr agrees well with previous works, 3 21 38 3 3 5 * 0.7±0.3 Myr based on He, Ne, and Ar [1] and The measured activities were decay corrected to July 18, 1.10±0.15 Myr based on 10Be [7]. These estimates are 2011. *Sample weight was 188 mg. consistent with CRE ages of similar Martian meteorites (e.g., EETA79001, DaG 476, DaG 735, Pre-atmospheric radius (PAR) of the Tissint NWA 1195, NWA 2046, NWA 2626, NWA 4925, 60 meteorite: The Co is mainly produced by the capture NWA 5789, SaU 005, and Yamato 980459), which 59 of thermal neutrons on Co nuclei, and is usually used have an average CRE age of 1.05±0.10 Myr [7], sug- as an indicator for the depth of a meteorite within the gesting that the group of depleted permafic olivine- meteoroid body, as well as for the estimation of the phyric shergottites was likely ejected from Mars at the radius of the meteoroid body (see e.g., [14,15]). The same time, around 1.05±0.10 Myr. 60 absence of Co in the analyzed samples indicate either Acknowledgement: The Bratislava group 59 a small concentration of the target isotope Co in the acknowledges the support provided by the Slovak meteorite, and/or a small radius of its meteoroid body. Grant Agency VEGA (1/0891/17), as well as by the The cobalt concentration was measured to be 58 ppm EU Research and Development Operational Program in the Tissint meteorite [1], which is lower by a factor funded by the ERDF (26240120012, 26240120026). of 10 when compared to H chondrites [8]. Using the AJTJ was partly supported by the EU and Hungary 60 measured Co limit (<0.2 dpm/kg) for the large sam- through the ERDF project GINOP-2.3.2.-15-2016- ple, and Monte Carlo modeling results [16] (after ap- 00009 ‘ICER’ propriate corrections for the chemical composition), References: [1] Chennaoui Aoudjehane H. et al. we can estimate the pre-atmospheric radius of the (2012) Science 338, 785–788. [2] Baziotis I.P. et al. Tissint meteorite to be <20 cm. (2013) Nature Communications 4, 1404. [3] Herzog The other radionuclides identified in the Tissint G.F. (2005) Cosmic-ray exposure ages of meteorites. 14 22 26 54 samples, C, Na, Al, and Mn, were produced by In Davis A.M. (ed.) Meteorites, Planets, and Comets. interaction of secondary cosmic-ray protons and neu- Elsevier, p 347–380. [4] Eugster O. et al. (2006) trons mainly on the O, S, Al, Si, and Fe nuclei. The Irradiation records, cosmic ray exposure ages, and 22 54 production rates of Na and Mn due to their short transfer time of meteorites. In Lauretta D. and half-lives also depend on variations of cosmic-ray McSween H.Y.Jr. (eds.) Meteorites and the Early fluxes during the 11-yr solar cycle. On the other hand, Solar System II, University of Arizona Press, pp. 829– 26 the production of Al is averaged during about 1.5 851. [5] Irving A.J. et al. (2012) LPS XXXXIII, 2510. Myr due to its long half-life (0.717 Myr). Although its [6] Hallis L.J. et al. (2017) Geochim. Cosmochim. production rate does not change significantly at larger Acta, 200, 280–294. [7] Nishiizumi K.
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