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Article Dans Une Revue Meteoritics and Planetary Science Année : 2014

The Orgueil meteorite: 150 years of history

Résumé

The goal of this paper is to summarize 150 yr of history of a very specialmeteorite. The Orgueil meteorite fell near Montauban in southwestern France on May 14,1864. The bolide, which was the size of the full Moon, was seen across Western France, andalmost immediately made the news in local and Parisian newspapers. Within a few weeks ofthe fall, a great diversity of analyses were performed under the authority of Gabriel AugusteDaubree, geology professor at the Paris Museum, and published in the Comptes Rendus del’Academie des Sciences. The skilled scientists reported the presence of iron sulfides,hydrated silicates, and carbonates in Orgueil. They also characterized ammonium saltswhich are now gone, and observed sulfates being remobilized at the surface of the stone.They identified the high water and carbon contents, and noted similarities with the Alaismeteorite, which had fallen in 1806, 300 km away. While Daubree and his colleagues notedthe similarity of the Orgueil organic matter with some terrestrial humus, they were cautiousnot to make a direct link with living organisms. One century later, Nagy and Claus wereless prudent and announced the discovery of “organized” elements in some samples ofOrgueil. Their observations were quickly discredited by Edward Anders and others who alsodiscovered that some pollen grains were intentionally placed into the rock back in the1860s. Orgueil is now one of the most studied meteorites, indeed one of the most studiedrocks of any kind. Not only does it contain a large diversity of carbon-rich compounds,which help address the question of organo-synthesis in the early solar system but itschemical composition is also close to that of the Sun’s photosphere and serves as a cosmicreference. Secondary minerals, which make up 99% of the volume of Orgueil, wereprobably formed during hydrothermal alteration on the parent-body within the first fewmillion years of the solar system; their study is essential to our understanding of fluid–rockinteraction in asteroids and comets. Finally, the Orgueil meteorite probably originated froma volatile-rich “cometary” outer solar system body as indicated by its orbit. Because it bearsstrong similarities to other carbonaceous chondrites that originated on dark asteroids, thiscometary connection supports the idea of a continuum between dark asteroids and comets

Dates et versions

hal-01094019 , version 1 (11-12-2014)

Identifiants

Citer

Matthieu Gounelle, Michael E. Zolensky. The Orgueil meteorite: 150 years of history. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 2014, 49 (10), pp.1769-1794. ⟨10.1111/maps.12351⟩. ⟨hal-01094019⟩
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