METEORITES AND LIQUID WATER

Roberto Bartali

ABSTRACT
Meteorites formed in the same nebula where planets and satellites of the Solar
System grown, so they contain the same chemical elements of rocky planets. It is very
important, and interesting, the analysis of meteorites, to understand planet formation
because meteorites are preserved from alteration due to tectonics and weathering, so
they are in the same original state as when they formed.
Some meteorites contains water in the form of microscopic bubble and in the
form of hydrated minerals.
In this article we will first show how the special type of meteorites called
Chondrites are classified and then which are the evidences of the presence of water
inside them.

CHONDRITE CLASSES
Before speaking about the evidence of water content in chondrites, it is better to
know something about them, so the follow is a very brief description of such meteorites.

Figure 1
Example of an ordinary chondrite. This is a
polished portion of the Mezo-Madaras
meteorite found in Romania.
Source:
http://meteorites.asu.edu/images/education
/mezo-madaras-big.jpg

Chondrite meteorites (figure 1) are

so called because they have little spherules
called chondrules with size varying from
micrometers to centimetres.
Their chemical composition is similar to the composition of the solar nebula, so
they represent the older rock known (4.58 billion years old).
They never completely melted; this is
because they formed in a cool zone of the solar
nebula, 2.5 to 4 astronomical units from the proto-
Sun.
Chondrules (figure 2, figure 9 and figure
10) formed after a high and rapid pressure shock
(Boss 2005), some meteorites also suffered from
more than one alteration, so we can find older
Figure 2
Semacona chondrite showing several chondrules.
Source:
http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Mar00/flashHeating.html

broken chondrules inside new ones.

Chondrites are classified depending on their morphology and chemical
composition into different classes, but they share a common origin and they are all
depleted of volatile elements like oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and helium.

1
 Depending on their water content and mineral alteration by water and
metamorphism they are classified into 6 different petrologic types.
This way we have many types of chondrites, and a group of specimens that are
unclassified due to some specific features that make them unique and are not included
into a specific class.
Due to their rocky (mostly silicates) minerals, they have a low quantity of metals
like iron and nickel.
Now we will summarize all type of
chondrites classified depending on their
chemical characteristics (chemical groups):
• Ordinary Chondrites.
• Carbonaceous Chondrites.
• R chondrites.
• Enstatite Chondrites.

Each type is divided into several sub-

types, depending on the authors may be several
differences with some more types:
• Ordinary Chondrites: H, L, LL. Where H
stand for high iron content, L for low
Figure 3 iron content and LL for very low iron
Allende Meteorite: it is a and metals content (figure 5).
carbonaceous chondrite classified as • Carbonaceous Chondrites: CI, CM, CR,
CV3.
http://www.meteorlab.com/METEORL CO, CV, CK, CB.
AB2001dev/allende.htm The capital letter after C represent the initial of
the place where the representative meteorite
came from: I = Ivuna, V=Vigarano, O=Ornans, M=Mighei, R=Renazzo, K=Karoonda,
B=Bencubbin (Figure 3, figure 6)
• Enstatite Chondrites: EH, EL. Where H stand for high and L stand for low iron
content (figure 4).

Figure 4
Abee Meteorite: it is an enstatite chondrite
classified as EH4.
http://www.meteorlab.com/METEORLAB2001d
ev/abee.htm

Depending on the water content or

aqueous alteration of minerals they are included
in petrologic type 1 or petrologic type 2; where
type 1 mean that they are more water altered.
If they show some moderate high temperature metamorphism, they are included
into petrologic type 3, 4, 5, 6; where type 6 shows the highest temperature
metamorphism.
Ordinary Chondrites belongs to petrologic type 3,4,5,6.
CO and CV carbonaceous chondrites belong to petrologic type 3.
CK carbonaceous chondrites and R chondrites (figure 7) belongs to petrologic type
3,4,5,6.
EH Enstatite chondrites belong to petrologic type 3,4,5,6.

2
 Figure 5
Richfield Meteorite: it is a
chondrite classified as LL3.
http://www.meteorlab.com/M
ETEORLAB2001dev/images/
rchfld2.gif

Figure 6
Murchison Meteorite: it is a chondrite classified
as CM2.
http://www.meteorlab.com/METEORLAB2001d
ev/murchy.htm

Figure 7
NWA753 Meteorite: it is a chondrite
classified as R.
http://meteorites4sale.net/I_O_IMAGES/NWA
753_25g.jpg

Figure 8
Sioux County Meteorite: it is an achondrite
type.
http://meteorites.asu.edu/images/education/si
oux-big.jpg

EL enstatite chondrites belong to petrologic type 3,5,6.

Some authors include another type (7).
The nomenclature of chondrites is the combination of the chemical group
followed by the petrologic type (also called petrologic grade). For example: H5 is an
ordinary Chondrite of type 5.

3
 Petrologic type 3 is the border line that divides water altered meteorites from
those that suffered metamorphism due to temperature. So a type 3 is the one that show
neither water nor temperature alteration.

Figure 9 Figure 10
Example of chondrules in the meteorite Example of chondrules in a meteorite.
NWA2892. http://www.meteorlab.com/METEO
http://www.meteorites.com.au/collectio RLAB2001dev/glossary.htm
n/NWA%202892%20H-
L3%209.84g%20(4%20of%204)-
700.jpg

Achondrites are rocks that share almost the same properties of Chondrites, but lacks of
chondrules, so they are classified as a different group (figure 8).

WATER CONTENT
Meteorites of petrologic type 1,2 and 3 are called unequilibrated because they
lack of thermal metamorphism. Instead, petrologic type 4,5,6 and 7 are called
equilibrated because of their extended thermal alterations, but it is important to
understand that they never melted, they suffered only partial melting due to large
impact, the temperature for the highest metamorphism only reached about 900ºC.
Type 1 are those meteorites that do not show any chondrules, but they certain
have chondrules during some period of their early history, and formed at lowest
temperature (<150ºC), water content from 18% to 20%; but they must not be confused
with Achondrites.
Type 2 meteorites show very low quantity of chondrules but they are very sharp
visible, the water content is about 16%; and they present some degree of water
alteration; they formed at slight high temperature (<200ºC).
Aqueous alteration may be occurred in the parent body (asteroid) at very low
temperature (20 to 50 ºC) in a water rich environment, this type of chondrites may
contain up to 20% (of their weight) of water. It is possible that up to 50% of this water
is terrestrial contamination.
Determination of the quantity of water present in meteorite minerals is very
hard, because depending on the time of residence on Earth, the meteorite may absorb a
large quantity, another issue is that some minerals can be altered by terrestrial water
after the meteorite falls. One form to know haw much water is indigenous, is to measure
the D/H (Deuterium-Hydrogen) (Robert 2001; Robert, Deloule 2002) ratio, if this ratio
is different from any known on Earth, we can conclude that it is of extraterrestrial
origin. If the ratio is similar to Earth water, a careful examination must be made, but if

4
the water content in meteorite is greater than 0.8% in weight, water contamination is
almost invisible. This contamination became clear in minerals like olivine and Pyroxene
if their water content is less than 0.8%.
Baker et al. (Baker et al 2001) developed a method to measure the amount in
oxygen isotopes (17O and 18O). They found that water at low temperature has isotopic
oxygen similar to Earth water, but at high temperature (300ºC), water is clearly of
extraterrestrial origin. CM samples of chondrites showed a simple release pattern of the
isotope 18O, but that of the isotope 17O of CI chondrites pattern was more complex. This
value is positive for CI meteorites and negative for CM like that measured for the
matrix and silicates minerals. They conclude that carbonaceous chondrites retain an

isotopic record of the water they contain and hence of their parent body. Similarity in
17O for carbonates with water and phyllosilicate minerals suggest that they formed at the
same time or that water isotopic composition do not changed during the alteration
process.
Here is better to open a parenthesis about phyllosilicate minerals because they
are present in chondrithes and they are composed of hydrated minerals, they often
contain water molecule trapped between their sheet structures. Weathering and erosion
of phyllosilicate minerals is very low and they are also tolerant to high pressure and
temperature, because of this, they are well preserved even in older meteorites and
represent the composition of their parent body. They are found on sedimentary and
metamorphic rocks. Some minerals of this subclass that are found in meteorites are
(phyllosilicate minerals, 2007; Lewis 1995): Serpentine, Chamosite, Montmorillonite,
Kaesurtite, Muscovite mica, Sodalite and Richterite (figure 11).

5
CONCLUSIONS
It is clear that CI and CM chondrites mineralogy is highly altered by liquid water
present in the parent body (Wilkening 1981) or even before, in the solar nebula where
the parent body accreted. Phyllosilicates may be formed by reaction of high temperature
silicates with water vapour in the solar nebula at a moderate temperature of 350K, then,
they accreted to form asteroids. Matrix material observed in CI and CM chondrites is
similar to interstellar matter and to synthetic vapour deposited on crystalline silicates. If
this is the case, water in CI and CM chondrites originally formed during accretion of the
solar nebula, so these meteorites are the oldest rocks we can find. Another possibility is
that, if silicates in the solar nebula were anhydrous, they have reacted with water vapour
in the nebula and produced phyllosilicates.
Bunch and Chung (Bunch 1980) proposed that pyroxene and olivine minerals in
the parent body reacted with liquid water to form phyllosilicate minerals.
Chondrite meteorites are the oldest rocks we can find, because they formed
during the condensation of the Solar nebula, from where all planets came from. They
contain pristine materials and if they can be collected as soon as they fall on Earth, we
can also known better how planet formed from accretion of small rocks.
Chondrites also contain water, so most of the water on our planet could be of
meteoritical origin, when the Earth was in the accretion phase and during the heavy
bombardment phase some 4.5 to 4 billion years ago.

REFERENCES

Beatty J.K., Collins Petersen C, Chaikin A, The new solar system, Cambridge, 1999.

Lewis J.S., Physics and Chemistry of the Solar System, Academic Press, 1995.

All about meteorites, 2007: http://www.meteorite.fr/en/classification/

Wittke J, Meteorite book, 2007.

Boss A.P., Durisen R.H., Chondrule-forming shock fronts in the solar nebula: a
possible unified scenario for planet and chondrite formation, ApJ 621:L137–L140,
2005.

Robert F., Deloule E., Using the D/H ratio to estimate the terrestrial water
contamination in chondrites, Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIII, 2002.

Robert F., Isotope geochemistry:the origin of water on earth, Science 2001, Vol.
293. no. 5532, 1056 - 1058

Baker L, Franchi I.A., Wright I.P., Pillinger C.T., Oxygen Isotopes in Water
Extracted from Carbonaceous Chondrites, 64th Annual Meteoritical Society
Meeting, 2001.

Baker L., Franchi I.A., Maynard J.M., Wright I.P., Pillinger C.T., Measurement of
oxygen isotopes in water from CI and CM chondrites, Lunar and Planetary Science
XXIX, 1998.

6
Wilkening L.L., On the source of liquid H2O in the carbonaceous chondrites parent
bodies, Lunar and planetary Institute, 1981LPI..12..1185W, 1981.

Grimm R., McSween H, Water and the thermal evolution of thew carbonaceous
chondrites parent bodies, 1989Metic..24R..272G, 1989.

Phyllosilicate minerals: http://www.galleries.com/minerals/silicate/phyllosi.htm

Bunch T.E., Chang S., Carbonaceous chondrites—II. Carbonaceous chondrite

phyllosilicates and light element geochemistry as indicators of parent body
processes and surface conditions, Geochimica and Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 44 Issue
10, 1980.