The search for fullerenes in rocks from the Ries impact crater

Abstract

Since their discovery, fullerenes have been reported from various geological environments. One group of these findings has been related to bolide impacts, e.g., the Sudbury crater and the K-T and P-T boundaries. Impact rocks of the Ries crater, Germany, including samples of suevites, metamorphosed crystalline clasts, and glass bombs, have been collected in the Otting, Altebürg, and Seelbronn quarries. No fullerenes in concentrations above 1 ppb have been found in analyzed samples. Laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LD-TOF-MS) confirmed the absence of fullerenes in the analyzed samples. These results support the concept that the Ries impactor was a stony meteorite.