Upper limit concentrations of trapped xenon in individual interplanetary dust particles from the stratosphere

Abstract

The Xe contents in 25 individual stratospheric interplanetary dust particles were measured in two different laboratories using focused laser micro-gas extraction and (1) a conventional low-blank magnetic sector mass spectrometer (Washington University), and (2) a resonance ionization time of flight mass spectrometer (RELAX-University of Manchester). Data from both laboratories yielded a remarkably similar upper-limit 132Xe concentration in the IDPs (<2.7, 6.8 and 2.2 x 10^(-8) ccSTP/g for Washington University Run 1, Washington University Run 2 and University of Manchester analyses, respectively), which is up to a factor of five smaller than previous estimates. The upper-limit 132Xe/36Ar ratio in the IDPs (132Xe/36Ar < ~8 x  10^(-4) for Run 1 and 132Xe/36Ar < ~19 x  10^(-4) for Run 2), computed using 36Ar concentration data reported elsewhere is consistent with a mixture between implanted solar wind, primordial, and atmospheric noble gases. Most significantly, there is no evidence that IDPs are particularly enriched in primordial noble gases compared to chondritic meteorites, as implied by previous work.