On the Q-phase of carbonaceous chondrites

One of the unresolved puzzles of meteoritics is the nature of the carrier of the so-called heavy planetary gases. Apparently, these gases reside mainly in a minor fraction, which has been dubbed Q by Lewis et al. in analogy of the naming by Papanastasiou et al. of a minor glassy phase in lunar rocks highly enriched in trace elements such as Pb and U. Q stands for the archaic term quintessence, the fifth or last and highest substance in ancient and medieval philosophy above fire, air, water and earth. In this contribution, an attempt is made to provide evidence that Q is carbonaceous, with carbon in the form of closed structures such as carbon nanotubes which serve as micro bottles for the heavy noble gases. To this end, Q was characterized with micro-PIXE and NRA, whereas HREM was used to search for nanotubes. Q itself was obtained as residue after chemical destruction of samples of Allende, Leoville and Vigarano.