Alais or Allais is the first

carbonaceous chondrite Carbonaceous chondrites or C chondrites are a class of chondritic meteorites comprising at least 8 known groups and many ungrouped meteorites. They include some of the most primitive known meteorites. The C chondrites represent only a small propo ...

meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

identified. It fell near

Alès Alès () is a Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France. Until 1926, i ...

in 1806 in multiple fragments which together weighed , although only remains. The meteorite contains a number of elements in similar proportions to the Solar System in its primordial state. It also contains organic compounds and water. It has proved to be one of the most important meteorites discovered in France.

History

At 17:00 on 15 March 1806, two detonations were heard near

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Saint-Étienne-de-l'Olm and

Castelnau-Valence Castelnau-Valence (; ) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Gard department This is a list of the 350 communes of the Gard department of France. The communes cooperate in the fol ...

, weighing and respectively. The fragments were collected by people who observed the impact and given to two scientists that lived locally. The meteorite was analysed by

Louis Jacques Thénard Louis Jacques Thénard (4 May 177721 June 1857) was a French chemist. Life He was born in a farm cottage near Nogent-sur-Seine in the Champagne district the son of a farm worker. In the post-Revolution French educational system, most boys rec ...

, who published a study in 1807, showing that it had a high carbon content. It was initially doubted that the fragments were of non-terrestrial origins as their attributes were markedly different to existing meteorites. However, it was increasingly realised that this was a new, albeit rare, type of meteorite. The meteorite is also known as Valence.

Curation and distribution

As an early fall (soon after the consensus that meteorites were real, extraterrestrial phenomenon), Alais has largely been dispersed. Few samples have been preserved, less than

Orgueil Orgueil (; ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France. History Orgueil has existed for more than 1000 years. It was first mentioned in the 9th century, when Orgueil was part of Saint-Sernin Abb ...

, but more than Tonk and particularly Revelstoke. ''Source: Grady, M. M. Catalogue of Meteorites, 5th Edition, Cambridge University Press''

Description

Overview

The Alais meteorite is one of the most important meteorites in France. It is black with loose friable textures with a low density of less than . Originally consisting of fragments that together weighed , it has been subject to substantial scientific examination and currently only remains. A fragment, weighing is held by the

National Museum of Natural History, France The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the ...

Composition and classification

The meteorite is one of five known meteorites belonging to the

CI chondrite CI chondrites, also called C1 chondrites or Ivuna-type carbonaceous chondrites, are a group of rare carbonaceous chondrites, a type of stony meteorite. They are named after the Ivuna meteorite, the type specimen. They represent the most chemica ...

group. This group is remarkable for having an elemental distribution that has the strongest similarity to that of the

solar nebula There is evidence that the formation of the Solar System began about 4.6 bya, billion years ago with the gravitational collapse of a small part of a giant molecular cloud. Most of the collapsing mass collected in the center, forming the Sun, whil ...

. Except for certain volatile elements, like

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

, nitrogen and the noble gases, which are not present in the meteorites in the same proportions, the ratios of the elements are very similar. The meteorite contains

cubanite Cubanite is a copper iron sulfide mineral that commonly occurs as a minor alteration mineral in magmatic sulfide deposits. It has the chemical formula CuFe2S3 and when found, it has a bronze to brass-yellow appearance. On the Mohs scale of minera ...

, dolomite, fosterite,

pyrrhotite Pyrrhotite (''Pyrrhus of Epirus, pyrrhos'' in Greek language, Greek meaning "flame-coloured"'')'' is an iron sulfide mineral with the formula Fe(1−x)S (x = 0 to 0.125). It is a nonstoichiometric compound, nonstoichiometric variant of FeS, th ...

and

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of th ...

amongst other minerals.

Origin of life controversy

The meteorite has been at the centre of controversial claims about an extraterrestrial origin of life since the discovery of organic matter on the meteorite by

Jöns Jacob Berzelius Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius (; 20 August 1779 – 7 August 1848) was a Swedish chemist. Berzelius is considered, along with Robert Boyle, John Dalton, and Antoine Lavoisier, to be one of the founders of modern chemistry. Berzelius became a memb ...

. Organic compounds, amino acids and water have been found in the meteorite. However, studies differentiate between organic and biological matter, the latter not being present.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Astrobiology Meteorites found in France 1806 in France