The study of organic compounds in astromaterials represents a unique window into organic matter in the interstellar medium, the solar nebula, and asteroid parent bodies, and insights into pathways that may relate organic matter in these diverse environments. Unfortunately, the Earth’s surface is awash in organic material, which forms a significant source of contamination, especially for specimens of meteorite falls. Here, we employ specimens of the Buzzard Coulee H4 ordinary chondrite, the fall of which in western Saskatchewan, Canada, on November 20, 2008 was widely documented, and from which meteorites were recovered starting shortly after the fall and continuing to over 10 years later. The low intrinsic organic matter content of these H4 specimens enables their use as “blanks” for terrestrial contamination. Using dichloromethane rinses of meteorite specimen exteriors, and analysis of organic compounds by gas chromatograph‐mass spectrometry, we document the sources of terrestrial contamination as a function of location, time of collection relative to the fall, and curation and handling since collection. We find numerous terrestrial organic compounds, most of which can be attributed to the terrestrial surface on which the meteorite specimens were collected, and we consider a variety of factors that may influence the degree of contamination. To determine the source of each contaminant more accurately, we advocate for the collection of terrestrial materials (e.g., soil, vegetation) alongside meteorites. Our results have implications for how specimens from meteorite falls—especially for meteorites expected to have high intrinsic organic content—are collected, documented, and curated.

中文翻译：

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陨石表面的有机污染物随时间和空间的变化：以Buzzard Coulee H4球粒陨石为例

对天体材料中有机化合物的研究为星际介质，太阳星云和小行星母体中的有机物提供了一个独特的窗口，并且洞察了在这些不同环境中可能与有机物相关的途径。不幸的是，地球表面充斥着有机物质，这构成了重要的污染源，尤其是对于陨石坠落标本。在这里，我们使用Buzzard Coulee H4普通球粒陨石的标本，该陨石在加拿大萨斯喀彻温省西部的秋天于2008年11月20日被广泛记录，并且从陨石坠落后不久开始回收陨石，并持续了十多年。这些H4样品的固有有机物含量低，因此可以用作陆地污染的“空白”。使用二氯甲烷冲洗陨石样品外部，并通过气相色谱-质谱分析有机化合物，我们记录了地面污染的来源与位置，相对于下落的收集时间以及收集后的处理和处理的关系。我们发现了许多陆地有机化合物，其中大多数可以归因于收集陨石标本的陆地表面，并且我们考虑了可能影响污染程度的多种因素。为了更准确地确定每种污染物的来源，我们主张与陨石一起收集地面物质（例如，土壤，植被）。