- 1University of Bern, Physics Institute, Space Research and Planetary Sciences, Switzerland
- 2NCCR PlanetS, University of Bern, Switzerland
The Allende meteorite, which fell in northern Mexico in 1969, is one of the most significant meteorites ever studied. As a carbonaceous chondrite, it represents some of the oldest and most primitive material in the solar system, dating back over 4.5 billion years. It provides insights into the early solar nebula and the processes of planetary formation. Through chemical composition analysis of the meteorite’s refractory inclusions, a deeper understanding of the building blocks of planets and the chemical evolution of our solar system can be gained [1].
In this contribution, we present the chemical composition analysis of a chondrule from the Allende meteorite. A space-prototype Laser Ablation Ionization Mass Spectrometer (LIMS) [2] was used to map a selected chondrule, and the element abundance of more than 19 elements was retrieved and quantitatively studied. The chondrule itself was identified as a porphyritic olivine, depleted in volatiles compared to the surrounding matrix. SEM-EDX and Raman spectroscopy were used for cross-validation.
Unsupervised machine learning (ML) was used to dimensionality reduce and cluster the pre-processed LIMS data to find distinct groups of different chemical compositions. This allowed the separation of the compositionally different materials present in the studied sample and allowed for their comparison [3]. The retrieved element maps suggest the presence of two rims around the chondrule, and their possible formation times and processes will be discussed in this contribution. Furthermore, another approach to reduce the dimensionality of the acquired LIMS data based on image segmentation will be presented, together with a discussion of the benefits and feasibility of applying unsupervised ML on board a spacecraft.
[1] Neuland, M. B. et al., 2021, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2021.105251.
[2] Riedo, A. et al., 2012, doi:10.1002/jms.3104.
[3] Gruchola, S. et al., 2024, doi:10.3847/PSJ/ad90b6.
How to cite: Gruchola, S., Keresztes Schmidt, P., Riedo, A., Tulej, M., and Wurz, P.: Composition Analysis of an Allende Chondrule using a Space-Prototype Laser Ablation Ionization Mass Spectrometer, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-11994, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-11994, 2025.
