Thermally Induced Chemistry of Meteoritic Complex Organic Molecules: A New Heat-Diffusion Model for the Atmospheric Entry of Meteorites

TL;DR

This study models the thermal effects during atmospheric entry of meteorites to understand how complex organic molecules might survive or transform, supporting the idea of extraterrestrial delivery of prebiotic compounds to Earth.

Contribution

A new heat-diffusion simulation model for meteorite atmospheric entry that predicts temperature penetration depths affecting organic molecules.

Findings

Pyrolytic temperature penetrates 0.5-1 cm into meteorites.

Non-dissociative warming affects up to 4 cm depth.

Results support extraterrestrial delivery of prebiotic molecules.

Abstract

Research over the past four decades has shown a rich variety of complex organic molecular content in some meteorites. This current study is an attempt to gain a better insight into the thermal conditions experienced by these molecules inside meteorites during atmospheric entry. In particular, we wish to understand possible chemical processes that can occur during entry and that might have had an effect on complex organic or prebiotic species that were delivered in this way to the early Earth. A simulation was written in Fortran to model heating by the shock generated during entry and the subsequent thermal diffusion inside the body of a meteorite. Experimental data was used for the thermal parameters of several types of meteorites, including iron-nickel and several classes of chondrites. A Sutton-Graves model of stagnation-point heating was used to calculate peak surface temperatures and an explicit difference formula was used to generate thermal diffusion profiles for both chondrites and iron-nickel type meteorites. Results from the simulation show pyrolytic temperature penetration to a depth of ca. 0.5 to 1 cm. Non-dissociative warming of meteorite interiors penetrates further to ca. 4 cm. These results support the findings that extraterrestrial delivery is a viable option for prebiotic molecular "seeding" of a planet.