Bright carbonate veins on asteroid (101955) Bennu: Implications for aqueous alteration history

H H Kaplan; D S Lauretta; A A Simon; V E Hamilton; D N DellaGiustina; D R Golish; D C Reuter; C A Bennett; K N Burke; H Campins; H C Connolly Jr; J P Dworkin; J P Emery; D P Glavin; T D Glotch; R Hanna; K Ishimaru; E R Jawin; T J McCoy; N Porter; S A Sandford; S Ferrone; B E Clark; J-Y Li; X-D Zou; M G Daly; O S Barnouin; J A Seabrook; H L Enos

doi:10.1126/science.abc3557

Bright carbonate veins on asteroid (101955) Bennu: Implications for aqueous alteration history

Science. 2020 Nov 6;370(6517):eabc3557. doi: 10.1126/science.abc3557. Epub 2020 Oct 8.

Authors

H H Kaplan^{1

2}, D S Lauretta³, A A Simon⁴, V E Hamilton², D N DellaGiustina³, D R Golish³, D C Reuter⁴, C A Bennett³, K N Burke³, H Campins⁵, H C Connolly Jr^{6

3}, J P Dworkin⁴, J P Emery⁷, D P Glavin⁴, T D Glotch⁸, R Hanna⁹, K Ishimaru³, E R Jawin¹⁰, T J McCoy¹⁰, N Porter³, S A Sandford¹¹, S Ferrone¹², B E Clark¹², J-Y Li¹³, X-D Zou¹³, M G Daly¹⁴, O S Barnouin¹⁵, J A Seabrook¹⁴, H L Enos³

Affiliations

¹ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA. hannah.kaplan@nasa.gov.
² Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, USA.
³ Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
⁴ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
⁵ Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA.
⁶ Department of Geology, School of Earth and Environment, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA.
⁷ Department of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
⁸ Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
⁹ Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
¹⁰ Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA.
¹¹ NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, USA.
¹² Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, USA.
¹³ Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA.
¹⁴ Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
¹⁵ John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA.

PMID: 33033155
DOI: 10.1126/science.abc3557

Abstract

The composition of asteroids and their connection to meteorites provide insight into geologic processes that occurred in the early Solar System. We present spectra of the Nightingale crater region on near-Earth asteroid Bennu with a distinct infrared absorption around 3.4 micrometers. Corresponding images of boulders show centimeters-thick, roughly meter-long bright veins. We interpret the veins as being composed of carbonates, similar to those found in aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. If the veins on Bennu are carbonates, fluid flow and hydrothermal deposition on Bennu's parent body would have occurred on kilometer scales for thousands to millions of years. This suggests large-scale, open-system hydrothermal alteration of carbonaceous asteroids in the early Solar System.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.