Objective
Meteorites are pieces of rocks from other planets, the overwhelming majority coming from the asteroids. These are planets so small that their temperature decreased very quickly (compared to the Earth and other terrestrial planets) and any geological activity ceased soon after their formation. The temperature of the parent asteroids of the most common meteorites, the chondrites, was never high enough to melt rocks. Chondrites are thus made of primitive, undifferentiated matter, i.e. matter whose chemical composition and mineralogy still closely resembles those of the matter which served to build the planets about 4.5 billion years ago. In this respect, chondrites can be considered as witnesses of the birth of the solar system and the only ones in laboratories. As meteorites are rare objects, it is of great importance to look for new ones. This was recognised long ago and meteorite-collecting expeditions have been organised in Antarctica for about 15 years.
The present project aims to find new extraterrestrial material in a different way. It is not uncommon to find, inside meteorites, fragments of meteorites embedded in a meteorite of a different kind. This follows from the meteorite bombardment which the asteroids, like the Earth and all the planets, continuously suffer. In most cases, these foreign fragments (termed xenolithic clasts) belong to known meteorite classes just like most meteorites found in Antarctica. However, in rare cases, they happen to be of a kind unknown in our collections. Up to now, these discoveries have been serendipitous. This project is a systematic search for xenolithic clasts in chondrites.
The 50 specimens of the Krymka chondrite, which fell in Ukraine on 21 January 1946, and is kept in the Natural History Museum in Kiev, will be carefully examined and searched for xenoliths. The reason for this choice is that Krymka is one of the most primitive ordinary chondrites, and 15 years ago a small inclusion was found in it with chemical composition markedly different from any known meteorite. It was thought that this was a late condensate from a high pressure region of the solar nebula but, because of the small size of the sample, this material has never been fully characterised. In view of the large quantity of Krymka present in the Ukrainian collection, one can reasonably hope to find more exotic inclusions. The material will then be characterised with modern techniques, including various microprobes and electron microscopes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
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Coordinator
75005 Paris
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.