A large planetary body inferred from diamond inclusions in a ureilite meteorite
Open accessAbstract
Planetary formation models show that terrestrial planets are formed by the accretion of tens of Moon- to Mars-sized planetary embryos through energetic giant impacts. However, relics of these large proto-planets are yet to be found. Ureilites are one of the main families of achondritic meteorites and their parent body is believed to have been catastrophically disrupted by an impact during the first 10 million years of the solar system. Here we studied a section of the Almahata Sitta ureilite using transmission electron microscopy, where large diamonds were formed at high pressure inside the parent body. We discovered chromite, phosphate, and (Fe,Ni)-sulfide inclusions embedded in diamond. The composition and morphology of the inclusions can only be explained if the formation pressure was higher than 20 GPa. Such pressures suggest that the ureilite parent body was a Mercury- to Mars-sized planetary embryo.
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In ureilite meteorite, diamond grains have been widely observed.
“(2) In ureilite meteorite, the diamond grains have been widely observed; 240,241”
From Energy system and resource utilization in space: A state-of-the-art review (2024) · cites this paper as [240]
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References 50 · Cited by 79
- Authors
- Nabiei, F., Badro, J., Dennenwaldt, T., Oveisi, E., Cantoni, M., Hébert, C., El Goresy, A., Barrat, J.-A., & Gillet, P.
- Affiliations
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
- Institut de physique du globe de Paris (FR)
- Université de Bretagne Occidentale (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Nabiei, Farhang
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2018-04-17
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1327-1327
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5904174
- OpenAlex
- W2801898426
- Cited by
- 79
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 5.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by-nd)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Institutional Archive of Ifremer (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (140474, 200021)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › High-pressure geophysics and materials
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Keywords
- ureilites, Almahata Sitta, diamond inclusions, planetary embryos, giant impacts, chromite inclusions, terrestrial planet formation
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