A comprehensive study of noble gases and nitrogen in "Hypatia", a diamond-rich pebble from SW Egypt

This is a follow-up study of a work by Kramers et al. (2013) on a very unusual diamond-rich rock fragment found in the area of south west Egypt in the south-western side of the Libyan Desert Glass strewn field. This pebble, called Hypatia, is composed of almost pure carbon. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results reveal that Hypatia is mainly made of defect-rich diamond containing lonsdaleite and multiple deformation bands. These characteristics are compatible with an impact origin on Earth and/or in space. We also analyzed concentrations and isotopic compositions of all five noble gases and nitrogen in several similar to mg sized Hypatia samples. These data confirm the conclusion by Kramers et al. (2013) that Hypatia is extra-terrestrial. The sample is relatively rich in trapped noble gases with an isotopic composition being close to the Q component found in many types of meteorites. Ar-40/Ar-36 ratios in individual steps are as low as 0.4 +/- 0.3. Cosmic-ray produced "cosmogenic" Ne-21 is present in concentrations corresponding to a nominal cosmic-ray exposure (CRE) age of roughly 0.1 Myr if produced in a typical meter-sized meteoroid. Such an atypically low nominal CRE age suggests high shielding in a considerably larger body. In addition to the Xe-Q composition, an excess of radiogenic Xe-129 (from the decay of short-lived radioactive I-129) is observed (Xe-129/Xe-132 = 1.18+/-0.03). Two isotopically distinct N components are present, an isotopically heavy component (delta N-15 similar to +20 parts per thousand) released at low temperatures and a major isotopically light component (delta N-15 similar to-110 parts per thousand) at higher temperatures. This disequilibrium in N suggests that the diamonds in Hypatia were formed in space rather than upon impact on Earth (delta N-15(atm) = 0 parts per thousand). All our data are broadly consistent with concentrations and isotopic compositions of noble gases in at least three different types of carbon-rich meteoritic materials: carbon-rich veins in ureilites, graphite in acapulcoites/lodranites and graphite nodules in iron meteorites. However, Hypatia does not seem to be directly related to any of these materials, but may have sampled a similar cosmochemical reservoir. Our study does not confirm the presence of exotic noble gases (e.g. G component) that led Kramers et al. (2013) to propose that Hypatia is a remnant of a comet nucleus that impacted the Earth. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.