CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 159Planetary Science and ExplorationAstro and Planetary SciencePaleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 3 of the 3 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Isotopic Evidence for a Terrestrial Source of Organic Compounds Found in Martian Meteorites Allan Hills 84001 and Elephant Moraine 79001

Jull, A. J. T., Courtney, C., Jeffrey, D. A., Beck, J. W.·1998·Science
DOI 10.1126/science.279.5349.366
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Stepped-heating experiments on martian meteorites Allan Hills 84001 (ALH84001) and Elephant Moraine 79001 (EETA79001) revealed low-temperature (200 to 430 degrees Celsius) fractions with a carbon isotopic composition delta13C between -22 and -33 per mil and a carbon-14 content that is 40 to 60 percent of that of modern terrestrial carbon, consistent with a terrestrial origin for most of the organic material. Intermediate-temperature (400 to 600 degrees Celsius) carbonate-rich fractions of ALH84001 have delta13C of +32 to +40 per mil with a low carbon-14 content, consistent with an extraterrestrial origin, whereas some of the carbonate fraction of EETA79001 is terrestrial. In addition, ALH84001 contains a small preterrestrial carbon component of unknown origin that combusts at intermediate temperatures. This component is likely a residual acid-insoluble carbonate or a more refractory organic phase.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1126/science.279.5349.366

Cites

0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 26

  1. 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1994.tb01092.x · DOI · Paper page
  2. Ash R. D., Knott S. F., Turner G., Nature 380, 57 (1996); · DOI
  3. 10.1016/S0016-7037(97)00285-8 · DOI · Paper page
  4. Carr R. H., Grady M. M., Wright I. P., Pillinger C. T., Nature 314, 248 (1985). · DOI
  5. Wright I. P., Grady M. M., Pillinger C. T., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 52, 917 (1988). · DOI
  6. Wright I. P., Grady M. M., Pillinger C. T., ibid. 56, 817 (1992).
  7. Jull A. J. T., Eastoe C. J., Xue S., Herzog G. F., Meteoritics 30, 311 (1995). · DOI
  8. Jull A. J. T., Eastoe C. J., Cloudt S., J. Geophys. Res. 102, 1663 (1997). · DOI
  9. Wright I. P., Grady M. M., Pillinger C. T., Nature 340, 220 (1989). · DOI
  10. Grady M. M., Wright I. P., Douglas C., Pillinger C. T., Meteoritics 29, 469 (1994).
  11. K. S. Hutchins thesis University of Colorado (1997).
  12. Jull A. J. T., Donahue D. J., Linick T. W., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 53, 2095 (1989). · DOI
  13. Jull A. J. T., Donahue D. J., ibid. 52, 1309 (1988).
  14. Jull A. J. T., et al., Lunar Planet. Sci. XXIII, 641 (1992).
  15. A negligible amount of 14 C could have been produced by spallation reactions in the organic components of these meteorites. The amount produced by spallation would not produce a significant 14 C/ 12 C ratio. No appreciable 14 C should have been produced while in space in the organic phases through the action of cosmic-ray–generated secondary thermal neutrons on 14 N or through thermal neutron capture on 13 C. The reason is that secondary cosmic-ray neutrons can only become thermalized inside a large parent meteoroid or in a smaller body with significant water content. Given that all of the martian meteorites so far recovered were irradiated as small objects in space with little water content very few cosmic-ray–generated neutrons can have been thermalized. M. S. Spergel et al. [ Proc. Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 16 J. Geophys. Res. 91 483 (1986)] have shown that for objects of pre-atmospheric radius less than ∼50 g/cm 2 (or approximately 19 kg in mass) that the cosmic-ray–induced thermal neutron flux is extremely small and neutron products are not detectable. ALH84001 and EETA79001 were much smaller than this size (recovered masses of 2.1 and 7.9 kg respectively) and thus the thermal neutron flux would be even lower and we can rule out any significant thermal neutron production of 14 C in the organic components of these martian meteorites. Consequently organic material indigenous to ALH84001 or EETA79001 would be expected to have very low 14 C abundance resulting from irradiation in space.
  16. M. M. Grady I. P. Wright P. K. Swart C. T. Pillinger Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 52 2855 (1988). · DOI
  17. Wright I. P., Grady M. M., Pillinger C. T., Lunar Planet. Sci. 28, 1591 (1997).
  18. 10.1038/372655a0 · DOI · Paper page
  19. Valley J. W., et al., Science 275, 1633 (1997). · DOI · Paper page
  20. 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1994.tb00673.x · DOI
  21. Harvey R. P., McSween H. Y., Nature 382, 49 (1997) . · DOI · Paper page
  22. Becker L., Glavin D. P., Bada J. P., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 61, 475 (1997). · DOI
  23. R. E. Taylor Radiocarbon Dating: An Archaeological Perspective (Wiley New York 1987). · DOI
  24. P. J. Slota A. J. T. Jull T. W. Linick L. J. Toolin Radiocarbon 29 303 (1987). · DOI
  25. D. J. Donahue T. W. Linick A. J. T. Jull ibid. 32 135 (1990) · DOI
  26. D. J. Donahue Int. J. Mass Spectrom. Ion Processes 143 235 (1995). · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 159

Metadata

Authors
Jull, A. J. T., Courtney, C., Jeffrey, D. A., & Beck, J. W.
Affiliations
U.S. National Science Foundation (US)
ORCID
Beck, J. W.
Venue
Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Published
1998-01-16
Volume
279
Issue
5349
Pages
366-369
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
DOI
10.1126/science.279.5349.366
OpenAlex
W1991009883
Cited by
159
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 7
FWCI
10.86
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Space and Planetary Science › Planetary Science and Exploration
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Space and Planetary Science › Astro and Planetary Science
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
Keywords
Martian meteorites, ALH84001, organic compounds, terrestrial contamination, carbon isotopes, carbon-14, carbonates
MeSH terms
Carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Isotopes, Carbon Radioisotopes, Carbonates, Hot Temperature, Organic Chemicals, Silicates, Mars, Meteoroids

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review