Determining the source(s) of hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen accreted by Earth is important for understanding the origins of water and life and for constraining dynamical processes that operated during planet formation. Chondritic meteorites are asteroidal fragments that retain records of the first few million years of solar system history. The deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) values of water in carbonaceous chondrites are distinct from those in comets and Saturn's moon Enceladus, implying that they formed in a different region of the solar system, contrary to predictions of recent dynamical models. The D/H values of water in carbonaceous chondrites also argue against an influx of water ice from the outer solar system, which has been invoked to explain the nonsolar oxygen isotopic composition of the inner solar system. The bulk hydrogen and nitrogen isotopic compositions of CI chondrites suggest that they were the principal source of Earth's volatiles.

Abstract-We have analyzed the chemically and isotopically well-characterized insoluble organic matter (IOM) extracted from 51 unequilibrated chondrites (8 CR, 9 CM, 1 CI, 3 ungrouped C, 9 CO, 9 CV, 10 ordinary, 1 CB and 1 E chondrites) using confocal imaging Raman spectroscopy. The average Raman properties of the IOM, as parameterized by the peak characteristics of the so-called D and G bands, which originate from aromatic C rings, show systematic trends that are correlated with meteorite (sub-) classification and IOM chemical compositions. Processes that affect the Raman and chemical properties of the IOM, such as thermal metamorphism experienced on the parent bodies, terrestrial weathering and amorphization due to irradiation in space, have been identified. We established separate sequences of metamorphism for ordinary, CO, oxidized, and reduced CV chondrites. Several spectra from the most primitive chondrites reveal the presence of organic matter that has been amorphized. This amorphization, usually the result of sputtering processes or UV or particle irradiation, could have occurred during the formation of the organic material in interstellar or protoplanetary ices or, less likely, on the surface of the parent bodies or during the transport of the meteorites to Earth. D band widths and peak metamorphic temperatures are strongly correlated, allowing for a straightforward estimation of these temperatures.

The Stardust spacecraft collected thousands of particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 and returned them to Earth for laboratory study. The preliminary examination of these samples shows that the nonvolatile portion of the comet is an unequilibrated assortment of materials that have both presolar and solar system origin. The comet contains an abundance of silicate grains that are much larger than predictions of interstellar grain models, and many of these are high-temperature minerals that appear to have formed in the inner regions of the solar nebula. Their presence in a comet proves that the formation of the solar system included mixing on the grandest scales.