Ubiquitous interstellar diamond and SiC in primitive chondrites: abundances reflect metamorphism

• DOI: 10.1038/347159a0
• Publication Date: 2003-06-12T22:51:18Z
• Authors: Gary R. Huss
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

It is shown here that interstellar diamond and SiC were incorporated into all groups of chondrite meteorites. Abundances rapidly go to zero with increasing metamorphic grade, suggesting that metamorphic destruction is responsible for the apparent absence of these grains in most chondrites. In unmetamorphosed chondrites, abundances normalized to matrix content are similar for different classes. Diamond samples from chondrites of different classes have remarkably similar noble-gas constants and isotropic compositions, although constituent diamonds may have come from many sources. SiC seems to be more diverse, partly because grains are large enough to measure individually, but average characteristics seem to be similar from meteorite to meteorite. These observations suggest that various classes of chondritic meteorites sample the same solar system-wide reservoir of interstellar grains.