Cliftonite in Meteorites: A Proposed Origin

Abstract

Cliftonite, a polycrystalline aggregate of graphite with cubic morphology, is known in ten meteorites. Some workers have considered it to be a pseudomorph after diamond, and have used the proposed diamond ancestry as evidence of a meteoritic parent body of at least lunar dimensions.We have synthesized cliftonite in Fe-Ni-C alloys in vacuumn, as a product of decomposition of cohenite [(Fe, Ni)₃C]. We therefore suggest that a high pressure origin is unnecessary for meteorites which contain cliftonite, and that these meteorites were formed at low pressures. This concluision is in agreement with other recent evidence.