^1,2Pierre-Marie Zanetta,²Pierre Rochette,¹Anne-Magali Seydoux-Guillaume,²Valérie Andrieu,¹Colette Guilbaud
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.70116]
¹CNRS, LGL-TPE, UMR5276, Universite Jean Monnet, Saint-Etienne, France
²CNRS, IRD, INRAE, CEREGE, UMR 7330, Aix-Marseille Universite, Aix-en-Provence, France
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Australasian tektites (AAT) contain grains from the impact surface that survivedthe tektite formation process. Muong Nong-type (MN) tektites, in particular, preservenumerous inclusions that provide insights into the thermal history of the material duringejection and deposition. Here, we present the first analysis of organic matter residues inMN-AAT, found adjacent to a mineral exhibiting Fe reduction within its crystallinestructure. We propose that this organic matter represents the residue of target biomass thatwas trapped in the impact glass during melting and was preserved due to its compositionand the rapid quenching of the melt, which prevented complete decomposition. Thepresence and composition of this organic matter may be linked to the ecosystem that oncecovered the impacted area and allow us to discuss the nature of this potential biomassreservoir. Moreover, carbon derived from this material appears to have influenced ironspeciation, as evidenced by the nearby dendritic oxide showing a gradient in Fe oxidationstate. These observations suggest that organic matter from soil and biomass may havecontributed to the geochemical evolution of tektites.