Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 12 March 1993:
Vol. 259. no. 5101, pp. 1599 - 1601
DOI: 10.1126/science.259.5101.1599
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Fullerenes from a Fulgurite

Terry K. Daly 1, Peter R. Buseck 2, Peter Williams 1, and Charles F. Lewis 3

1 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287
2 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Department of Geology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287
3 Center for Meteorite Studies, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287

Peaks at 720 and 840 atomic mass units were identified by mass spectrometry in a sample extracted from a fulgurite, which is a glassy rock that forms where lightning strikes the ground. The peaks are interpreted as arising from C60 and C70 and the associated peaks as produced from other fullerenes. The intense conditions generated by the lightning not only melted the rock it struck and fused the associated soil but also allowed fullerenes to form, presumably from the organic debris in the soil.

Submitted on November 2, 1992
Accepted on December 31, 1992


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Micro- and Mesoporous Carbon Forms, Chrysotile, and Clathrates.
M. Mellini (2005)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 57, 435-448
   Full Text »    PDF »
Testing for fullerenes in geologic materials: Oklo carbonaceous substances, Karelian shungites, Sudbury Black Tuff.
D. Mossman, G. Eigendorf, D. Tokaryk, F. Gauthier-Lafaye, K. D. Guckert, V. Melezhik, and C. E.G. Farrow (2003)
Geology 31, 255-258
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Geochemistry of carbon in terrestrial impact processes.
I. Gilmour (1998)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 140, 205-216
   Abstract »    PDF »
Origins of Fullerenes in Rocks.
T. W. Ebbesen, T. W. Ebbesen, H. Hiura, J. W. Hedenquist, C. E. J. de Ronde, A. Andersen, M. Often, and V. A. Melezhik (1995)
Science 268, 1634-1635
   PDF »
Response.
P. R. Buseck and S. Tsipursky (1995)
Science 268, 1635
   PDF »
Fullerenes in the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Layer.
D. Heymann, D. Heymann, L. P. F. Chibante, R. R. Brooks, W. S. Wolbach, and R. E. Smalley (1994)
Science 265, 645-647
   Abstract »    PDF »
Fullerenes in the 1.85-billion-year-old Sudbury impact structure.
L Becker, J. Bada, R. Winans, J. Hunt, T. Bunch, and B. French (1994)
Science 265, 642-645
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Cumulative Lessons of Research.
J.A. Hoskins (1994)
Indoor and Built Environment 3, 184-190
   Abstract »    PDF »
Fullerenes: An extraterrestrial carbon carrier phase for noble gases.
L. Becker, R. J. Poreda, and T. E. Bunch (2000)
PNAS 97, 2979-2983
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)