Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction to cosmochemistry
- 2 Nuclides and elements: the building blocks of matter
- 3 Origin of the elements
- 4 Solar system and cosmic abundances: elements and isotopes
- 5 Presolar grains: a record of stellar nucleosynthesis and processes in interstellar space
- 6 Meteorites: a record of nebular and planetary processes
- 7 Cosmochemical and geochemical fractionations
- 8 Radioisotopes as chronometers
- 9 Chronology of the solar system from radioactive isotopes
- 10 The most volatile elements and compounds: organic matter, noble gases, and ices
- 11 Chemistry of anhydrous planetesimals
- 12 Chemistry of comets and other ice-bearing planetesimals
- 13 Geochemical exploration of planets: Moon and Mars as case studies
- 14 Cosmochemical models for the formation of the solar system
- Appendix: Some analytical techniques commonly used in cosmochemistry
- Index
- References
12 - Chemistry of comets and other ice-bearing planetesimals
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction to cosmochemistry
- 2 Nuclides and elements: the building blocks of matter
- 3 Origin of the elements
- 4 Solar system and cosmic abundances: elements and isotopes
- 5 Presolar grains: a record of stellar nucleosynthesis and processes in interstellar space
- 6 Meteorites: a record of nebular and planetary processes
- 7 Cosmochemical and geochemical fractionations
- 8 Radioisotopes as chronometers
- 9 Chronology of the solar system from radioactive isotopes
- 10 The most volatile elements and compounds: organic matter, noble gases, and ices
- 11 Chemistry of anhydrous planetesimals
- 12 Chemistry of comets and other ice-bearing planetesimals
- 13 Geochemical exploration of planets: Moon and Mars as case studies
- 14 Cosmochemical models for the formation of the solar system
- Appendix: Some analytical techniques commonly used in cosmochemistry
- Index
- References
Summary
Overview
Ices, composed of water and other volatile compounds, are a very important component of the solar system. Whether formed by condensation in the nebula or imported from the interstellar medium, these frozen substances accreted with dust and rock beyond the snowline to form vast swarms of planetesimals and some larger bodies. Most of the ice-bearing planetesimals have been swept out of the planetary region by gravitational interactions with the giant planets, and their distribution now extends out to the limits of the Sun's grasp. Occasionally these bodies careen into the inner solar system, where sunlight volatilizes their ices, revealing them to be comets. Other planetesimals that formerly contained ices have remained near their formation locations in the asteroid belt; most of these suffered aqueous alteration when ices were melted. In this chapter we consider what has been discovered about the chemistry of comets and hydrated asteroids. The importance of these objects to cosmochemistry is a consequence of their primitive compositions and remarkable state of preservation.
Icy bodies in the solar system
In Chapter 10, we briefly considered ices and how they trap noble gases and provide sites for the formation of organic matter in the ISM and the solar nebula. We now discuss the ices themselves, including how they originated, where they existed in the early solar system and where they exist today.
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- Cosmochemistry , pp. 412 - 444Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010