Filaments in carbonaceous meteorites: mineral crystals, modern bio-contaminants or indigenous microfossils of trichomic prokaryotes? | Zendy

Richard B. Hoover | Zendy; A. Yu. Rozanov | Zendy

Open Access

Filaments in carbonaceous meteorites: mineral crystals, modern bio-contaminants or indigenous microfossils of trichomic prokaryotes?

Author(s) -

Richard B. Hoover,

A. Yu. Rozanov

Publication year - 2011

Publication title -

proceedings of spie, the international society for optical engineering/proceedings of spie

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Conference proceedings

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.192

H-Index - 176

eISSN - 1996-756X

pISSN - 0277-786X

DOI - 10.1117/12.898659

Subject(s) - meteorite , mineral , astrobiology , matrix (chemical analysis) , spectroscopy , mineralogy , materials science , geology , chemistry , physics , metallurgy , composite material , quantum mechanics

Environmental (ESEM) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) investigations have resulted in the detection of a large number of complex filaments in a variety of carbonaceous meteorites. Many of the filaments were observed to be clearly embedded the rock matrix of freshly fractured interior surfaces of the meteorites. The high resolution images obtained combined with tilt and rotation of the stage provide 3-dimensional morphological and morphometric data for the filaments. Calibrated Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and 2-D elemental X-ray maps have provided information on the chemical compositions of the filaments and the minerals of the associated meteorite rock matrix. These observations are used to evaluate diverse hypotheses regarding the possible abiotic or biogenic nature of the filaments found embedded in these meteorites.

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