Preliminary investigation into the use of surface modification techniques to detect organic materials in meteorites

摘要

Many carbonaceous chondrites (CCs) display evidence of aqueous and/or thermal alteration of their component minerals. In addition, CCs also contain up to 5% carbon, much of which is organic, insoluble, involatile and unreactive, and known as insoluble organic material (IOM). It is not known if there is a causal connection between the mineral alteration, and formation or modification of organic materials; however by understanding the relationships between them, any connections (chemical or physical) could be established.