¹Shen, Laiquan,^1,2Zhao, Rui,^1,2Chang, Chao,^1,2Yu, Jihao,¹Xiao, Dongdong,^1,2,3Bai, Haiyang,^4,5Zou, Zhigang,^4,6Yang, Mengfei,^1,3,4Wang, Weihua
Nature Astronomy 8, 1110-1118 Link to Article [DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02300-0]
¹Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
²Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
³Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, China
⁴Qian Xuesen Laboratory of Space Technology, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, China
⁵College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
⁶China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, China

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¹Lucie Laize-Générat et al. (>10)
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2024.10.001]
¹Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
Copyright Elsevier

Nitrogen, because of its abundance and variety of carrier phases, is a unique tracer of physico-chemical processes occurring throughout star and planet formations. The refractory organic matter is commonly considered as the main carrier of nitrogen in the most primitive objects of our Solar System. However, nitrogen in the form of ammonium (NH4+) was observed in the Ivuna-type carbonaceous (CI) chondrites Alais in 1834, and Orgueil just after its fall in 1864, as well as more recently on Ceres, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and possibly on some asteroids. In the present study, we have measured the nitrogen content and isotopic composition in various nitrogen-bearing phases of several samples of the Orgueil meteorite, with different degrees of terrestrial weathering. Water-soluble NH4+ is present in Orgueil at a mean concentration of 0.07 ± 0.01 wt%, with a mean isotopic composition of δ15N = +72 ± 9 ‰ (14N/15N = 254 ± 2), confirming its extra-terrestrial origin. In the most terrestrially altered sample of Orgueil that we analysed, the isotopic composition is δ15N = +50 ± 12 ‰ (14N/15N = 259 ± 3). NH4+ is in species that are thermally stable up to 383 K, possibly ammonium inorganic/organic salts and ammoniated phyllosilicates. We also show that the nitrogen in Orgueil is distributed among the insoluble organic matter (IOM) (35 ± 5 %), ammonium (27 ± 5 %), and other minor water-soluble species (e.g., nitrate, amines etc.: < 6 %). The remaining nitrogen (34 ± 14 %) is mainly in an unidentified organic matter (UOM), which may be IOM lost during its extraction and/or acid hydrolysable functional groups bounded to the IOM and/or organic nitrogen trapped within minerals. The three main carriers of nitrogen in Orgueil have δ15N (and 14N/15N) values of + 32 ± 1 ‰ (264 ± 0.3) for IOM, +39 ± 16 ‰ (262 ± 4) for UOM, and + 72 ± 9 ‰ (254 ± 2) for NH4+. Although IOM and NH4+ have significantly different δ15N, we cannot exclude that these phases could be compositionally related because IOM is heterogeneous in 15N. Ammonium could have been produced via heating and/or aqueous alteration processes of organic matter in the CI parent body. Alternatively, or additionnally, ammonium could be a tracer of the accretion and/or later deposit of NH3 ice, NH3 hydrates, and/or NH4+ salts on the CI parent body. As shown by previous studies, Ryugu grains sampled by the Hayabusa2 mission (JAXA) have heterogeneous compositions at the millimeter scale, with nitrogen concentrations and δ15N similar or lower than Orgueil, possibly because of different parent body processing. The present study suggests that the lack or loss of 15N-rich NH4+ in some Ryugu grains may explain some of these differences with Orgueil.