The Winchcombe meteorite, a unique and pristine witness from the outer solar system

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Date
18/11/2022
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MCC
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Abstract
Direct links between carbonaceous chondrites and their parent bodies in the solar system are rare. The Winchcombe meteorite is the most accurately recorded carbonaceous chondrite fall. Its pre-atmospheric orbit and cosmic-ray exposure age confirm that it arrived on Earth shortly after ejection from a primitive asteroid. Recovered only hours after falling, the composition of the Winchcombe meteorite is largely unmodified by the terrestrial environment. It contains abundant hydrated silicates formed during fluid-rock reactions, and carbon- and nitrogen-bearing organic matter including soluble protein amino acids. The near-pristine hydrogen isotopic composition of the Winchcombe meteorite is comparable to the terrestrial hydrosphere, providing further evidence that volatile-rich carbonaceous asteroids played an important role in the origin of Earth's water.
Citation
King , A J , Daly , L , Rowe , J , Joy , K H , Greenwood , R C , Devillepoix , H A R , Suttle , M D , Chan , Q H S , Russell , S S , Bates , H C , Bryson , J F J , Clay , P L , Vida , D , Lee , M R , O'Brien , Á , Hallis , L J , Stephen , N R , Tartèse , R , Sansom , E K , Towner , M C , Cupak , M , Shober , P M , Bland , P A , Findlay , R , Franchi , I A , Verchovsky , A B , Abernethy , F A J , Grady , M M , Floyd , C J , Van Ginneken , M , Bridges , J , Hicks , L J , Jones , R H , Mitchell , J T , Genge , M J , Jenkins , L , Martin , P-E , Sephton , M A , Watson , J S , Salge , T , Shirley , K A , Curtis , R J , Warren , T J , Bowles , N E , Stuart , F M , Di Nicola , L , Györe , D , Boyce , A J , Shaw , K M M , Elliott , T , Steele , R C J , Povinec , P , Laubenstein , M , Sanderson , D , Cresswell , A , Jull , A J T , Sýkora , I , Sridhar , S , Harrison , R J , Willcocks , F M , Harrison , C S , Hallatt , D , Wozniakiewicz , P J , Burchell , M J , Alesbrook , L S , Dignam , A , Almeida , N V , Smith , C L , Clark , B , Humphreys-Williams , E R , Schofield , P F , Cornwell , L T , Spathis , V , Morgan , G H , Perkins , M J , Kacerek , R , Campbell-Burns , P , Colas , F , Zanda , B , Vernazza , P , Bouley , S , Jeanne , S , Hankey , M , Collins , G S , Young , J S , Shaw , C , Horak , J , Jones , D , James , N , Bosley , S , Shuttleworth , A , Dickinson , P , McMullan , I , Robson , D , Smedley , A R D , Stanley , B , Bassom , R , McIntyre , M , Suttle , A A , Fleet , R , Bastiaens , L , Ihász , M B , McMullan , S , Boazman , S J , Dickeson , Z I , Grindrod , P M , Pickersgill , A E , Weir , C J , Suttle , F M , Farrelly , S , Spencer , I , Naqvi , S , Mayne , B , Skilton , D , Kirk , D , Mounsey , A , Mounsey , S E , Mounsey , S , Godfrey , P , Bond , L , Bond , V , Wilcock , C , Wilcock , H & Wilcock , R 2022 , ' The Winchcombe meteorite, a unique and pristine witness from the outer solar system ' , Science Advances , vol. 8 , no. 46 , eabq3925 . https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq3925
Publication
Science Advances
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq3925
ISSN
2375-2548
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
Funding: This study was supported by urgency funding from the U.K.’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) as part of the project “Curation and Preliminary Examination of the Winchcombe Carbonaceous Chondrite Fall.” Additional work was funded by STFC through grants ST/N000846/1, ST/T002328/1, ST/T506096/1, and ST/W001128/1 (to L.D., M.R.L., and L.J.Ha.); ST/V000675/1 (to K.H.J. and R.H.J.); ST/P005225/1 (to R.T.); ST/S000348/1 (to M.V.G., P.J.W., and M.J.B.); ST/R00143X/1 (to J.B. and L.J.Hi.); ST/S000615/1 (to G.S.C.); ST/V000799/1 (to P.G.); and ST/V000888/1 (to T.E.). A.J.K. and H.C.B. acknowledge funding support from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) grant MR/T020261/1. P.L.C. acknowledges funding support from UKRI grant MR/S03465X/1. K.H.J. acknowledges funding support from the Royal Society, grant URF\R\201009. L.J.Ha. and M.R.L. acknowledge funding from Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Environmental Isotope Facility (NEIF) grant no. 2406.0321. L.D., M.R.L., and L.J.Ha. acknowledge COVID-19 funding support from the University of Glasgow, UK. D.V. was supported in part by NASA cooperative agreement 80NSSC21M0073. P.P. and I.Sy. acknowledge funding from the VEGA agency, project no.1/0421/20. A.J.T.J. acknowledges support from the European Union and the State of Hungary, cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund in the project of GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00009 “ICER.” P.M.S. acknowledges support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 945298. FRIPON was initiated by funding from ANR (grant N.13-BS05-0009-03), carried out by the Paris Observatory, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris-Saclay University, and Institut Pythéas (LAM-CEREGE). FRIPON data are hosted and processed at Institut Pythéas SIP (Service Informatique Pythéas). The Desert Fireball Network team and Global Fireball Observatory are funded by the Australian Research Council (DP200102073).
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URI
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/26487

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