Search for solar‐type nitrogen in the gas‐rich Pesyanoe meteorite

Abstract— We report nitrogen isotopic data obtained from a stepwise gas release of two grain-size fractions of the gas-rich meteorite Pesyanoe. Cosmic-ray-produced 15Nc may be present in all temperature steps ≥600 °C, and we correct this component using spallation 21Ne data. The resulting ratios reveal the presence of more than one trapped N component. Indigenous N is released above 1000 °C with an isotopic signature of δ15N = −33‰. This is consistent with the rather uniform signatures of indigenous nitrogen in enstatite meteorites. There is no evidence for the presence of “very light” N of δ15N ≅ −200‰. On the other hand, a “heavy” nitrogen component appears in the temperature range 700–800 °C, and coincides with a major release of solar-type noble gases. For a two-component mixture, the isotopic shifts in this temperature range define a lower limit δ15Ncorr = −6‰ for the second component (e.g., solar-type nitrogen). However, for the case of a solar-type component, the calculated δ15N signature depends on the adopted elemental abundances. For example, adoption of the relative abundances of 14N and noble gases in lunar ilmenite 71501 yields δ15N ≅ +170, which is in the range of the heavier nitrogen signatures observed on the lunar surface.