Efficient cyanide formation due to impacts of carbonaceous bodies on a planet with a nitrogen-rich atmosphere

Geophysical Research Letters

Volumn 36, Issue 20, 2009, Pages

  Sugita, Seiji ^a   Schultz, Peter H ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO   (Japan)

^b BROWN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AERODYNAMIC INTERACTIONS; AMBIENT ATMOSPHERE; BASIC COMPOUNDS; CN RADICALS; CYANIDE FORMATION; HIGH-SPEED; IMPACT VELOCITIES; OBLIQUE IMPACT; ORGANIC MATTER; ORGANICS; ORIGIN OF LIFE; REDOX CONDITION; SHOCK HEATING;

AERODYNAMICS; ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE; CYANIDES; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; PROJECTILES;

NITROGEN;

AERODYNAMICS; ASTEROID; ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE; COMET; CYANIDE; NITROGEN; ORGANIC MATTER; ORIGIN OF LIFE; PALEOATMOSPHERE; PARTIAL PRESSURE; RADICAL; REDOX CONDITIONS; SPECTROSCOPY; VAPORIZATION;

EID: 72149133925     PISSN: 00948276     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1029/2009GL040252     Document Type: Article

References (25)

1. Blank, J. G., G. H. Miller, M. J. Ahrens, and R. E. Winans (2001), Experimental shock chemistry of aqueous amino acid solutions and the cometary delivery of prebiotic compounds, Origins Life Evol. Biosphere, 31, 15-51, doi:10.1023/A:1006758803255.
2. Catling, D. C. (2006), Comment on "A hydrogen-rich early Earth atmosphere," Science, 311, 38, doi:10.1126/science.1117827.
3. Chameides,W. L., and J. C. G.Walker (1981), Rates of fixation by lightning of carbon and nitrogen in possible primitive atmosphere, Orig. Life, 11, 291-302, doi:10.1007/BF00931483.
4. Chang, S., D. DesMaris, R. Mach, S. L. Miller, and G. E. Strathearn (1983), Prebiotic organic syntheses and the origin of life, in Earth's Earliest Biosphere: Its Origin and Evolution, edited by J. W. Schopf, pp. 53- 92, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, N. J.
5. Chapin, F. S., III, P. A. Matson, and H. A. Mooney (2008), Principles of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology, 472 pp., Springer, New York.
6. Chyba, C. F., and C. Sagan (1992), Endogenous production, exogenous delivery and impact-shock synthesis of organic molecules: An inventory for the origins of life, Nature, 355, 125-132, doi:10.1038/355125a0.
7. Cronin, J. R., S. Pizzarello, and D. P. Cruikshank (1988), Organic matter in carbonaceous chondrites, planetary satellites, asteroids and comets, in Meteorites and the Early Solar System, edited by J. F. Kerridge and M. S. Matthews, pp. 819- 860, Univ. of Ariz. Press, Tucson.
8. Delano, J. W. (2001), Redox history of the Earth's interior since ∼3300Ma: Implications for prebiotic molecules, Origins Life Evol. Biosphere, 31, 311-341, doi:10.1023/A:1011895600380.
9. Fegley, B., Jr., R. G. Prinn, H. Hartman, and G. H. Watkins (1986), Chemical effects on large impacts on the Earth's primitive atmosphere, Nature, 319, 305-308, doi:10.1038/319305a0. (Pubitemid 16284013)
10. Hashimoto, G. L., Y. Abe, and S. Sugita (2007), The chemical composition of the early terrestrial atmosphere: Formation of a reducing atmosphere from CI-like material, J. Geophys. Res., 112, E05010, doi:10.1029/2006JE002844.
11. Herzberg, G. (1950), Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure, vol.1, 2nd ed., 678 pp., Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
12. Hills, G., and M. P. Goda (1993), The fragmentation of small asteroids in the atmosphere, Astron. J., 105, 1114-1144, doi:10.1086/116499.
13. Huber, K. P., and G. Herzberg (1979), Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structures, vol.4, 716 pp., Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
14. Kasting, J. F. (1990), Bolide impacts and the oxidation stage of carbon in the Earth's early atmosphere, Orig. Life, 20, 199-231, doi:10.1007/ BF01808105.
15. Kasting, J. F. (1993), Earth's early atmosphere, Science, 259, 920-926, doi:10.1126/science.11536547.
16. Miller, S. L. (1953), A production of amino acids under possible primitive Earth conditions, Science, 117, 528-529, doi:10.1126/science. 117.3046.528.
17. Morrison, R. T., and R. N. Boyd (1992), Organic Chemistry, 6th ed., 1325 pp., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, N. J.
18. Mukhin, L. M., M. V. Gerasimov, and E. N. Safonova (1989), Origin of precursors of organic molecules during evaporation of meteorites and mafic terrestrial rocks, Nature, 340, 46-48, doi:10.1038/340046a0.
19. O'Keefe, J. D., and T. J. Ahrens (1982), Impact ejecta dynamics in an atmosphere: Experimental results and extrapolations, in Geologic Implications of Impacts of Large Asteroids and Comets on the Earth, edited by L. Silver and P. H. Schultz, Spec. Pap. Geol. Soc. Am., 190, 103-120.
20. Sagan, C., and B. N. Khare (1971), Long wavelength ultraviolet photoproduction of amino acids in the primitive Earth, Science, 173, 417-420, doi:10.1126/science.173.3995.417.
21. Schultz, P. H., and D. E. Gault (1990), Prolonged global catastrophes from oblique impact, in Global Catastrophes in Earth History: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Impacts, Volcanism, and Mass Mortality, edited by V. L. Sharpton and P. D. Ward, Spec. Pap. Geol. Soc. Am., 247, 239-261.
22. Sugita, S., and P. H. Schultz (2003a), Interaction between impact-induced vapor clouds and the ambient atmosphere: 1. Spectroscopic observation using diatomic molecular emission, J. Geophys. Res., 108(E6), 5051, doi:10.1029/2002JE001959.
23. Sugita, S., and P. H. Schultz (2003b), Interaction between impact-induced vapor clouds and the ambient atmosphere: 2. Theoretical modeling, J. Geophys. Res., 108(E6), 5052, doi:10.1029/2002JE001960.
24. Tian, F., O. B. Toon, A. A. Pavlov, and H. De Sterck (2005), A hydrogen rich early Earth atmosphere, Science, 308, 1014-1017, doi:10.1126/science. 1106983. (Pubitemid 40664410)
25. Wasson, J. T., and G. W. Kallemeyn (1988), Compositions of chondrites, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. A, 325, 535-544, doi:10.1098/rsta.1988.0066.