Abstract
The Orgueil CI carbonaceous chondrite meteorite fall of 14 May 1864 is of particular interest because of the presence of an organic component which included amino acids. Using Mössbauer spectroscopy, we have determined that the Orgueil meteorite contains an appreciable fraction of its iron in the superparamagnetic state. This result implies that the superparamagnetic iron component was formed during an aqueous phase in the history of the parent body, and that the superparamagnetic component may have served as a catalyst for formation of the organic component.
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Wdowiak, T., Agresti, D. Presence of a superparamagnetic component in the Orgueil meteorite. Nature 311, 140–142 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/311140a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/311140a0
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