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Science 10 April 1992:
Vol. 256. no. 5054, pp. 206 - 209
DOI: 10.1126/science.256.5054.206
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Articles

A New Type of Meteoritic Diamond in the Enstatite Chondrite Abee

S. S. Russell 1, C. T. Pillinger 1, J. W. Arden 2, M. R. Lee 3, and U. Ott 4

1 Planetary Sciences Unit, Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom
2 Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3PR, United Kingdom
3 Department of Physics, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom
4 Max Planck Institut für Chemie, Saarstrasse 23, Mainz, Federal Republic of Germany

Diamonds with dgr13C values of –2 per mil and less than 50 parts per million (by mass) nitrogen have been isolated from the Abee enstatite chondrite by the same procedure used for concentrating Cdgr, the putative interstellar diamond found ubiquitously in primitive meteorites and characterized by dgr13C values of –32 to –38 per mil, nitrogen concentrations of 2,000 to 12,500 parts per million, and dgr15N values of –340 per mil. Because the Abee diamonds have typical solar system isotopic compositions for carbon, nitrogen, and xenon, they are presumably nebular in origin rather than presolar. Their discovery in an unshocked meteorite eliminates the possibility of origins normally invoked to account for diamonds in ureilites and iron meteorites and suggests a low-pressure synthesis. The diamond crystals are sim100 nanometers in size, are of an unusual lath shape, and represent sim100 parts per million of Abee by mass.

Submitted on November 14, 1991
Accepted on February 18, 1992


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Poly(phenylcarbyne): A Polymer Precursor to Diamond-Like Carbon.
G. T. Visscher, D. C. Nesting, J. V. Badding, and P. A. Bianconi (1993)
Science 260, 1496-1499
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Terrestrial Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Ratios from Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Nanodiamonds.
I. Gilmour, I. Gilmour, S. S. Russell, J. W. Arden, M. R. Lee, I. A. Franchi, and C. T. Pillinger (1992)
Science 258, 1624-1626
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