Isotopically anomalous neon in meteoritic nanodiamonds: Formation during type II supernova explosions

We hypothesize the formation of neon associated with isotopically anomalous xenon (Xe-HL) in meteoritic nanodiamonds and designated as Ne-X through the mixing of the Ne-HL and Ne-S subcomponents. The Ne-HL subcomponent is neon from the helium (He/C) zone of a type II supernova or a mixture of neon from this zone and its hydrogen zone, while the Ne-S subcomponent is spallation neon formed during a supernova explosion in nuclear spallation reactions induced by high-energy protons. Based on this hypothesis and the presumed abundances of neon isotopes in the zones of a high-mass (25M _⊙) supernova after its explosion, we have calculated the abundances of neon components in nanodiamond separates and its grain-size fractions. Our calculations have shown the following. (1) The main source of Ne-HL is neon from the helium zone of the supernova; as a result, the ²⁰Ne/²²Ne and ²¹Ne/²²Ne ratios for Ne-X are 0.26 ± 0.03 and 0.19 ± 0.04, respectively. The isotopic composition of Ne-X is identical to that for Ne-A2 if Ne-HL is produced by the mixing of neon from the helium and hydrogen zones in proportion 1: 1.06. (2) In meteoritic nanodiamonds, the main neon abundance is determined by neon of the P3 component (Ne-P3). Ne-P3 is retained during thermal metamorphism, because it is sited in traps of the crystal lattice of diamond with a high energy of its activation. (3) The Ne-X/Ne-P3 ratio increases with nanodiamond grain size; as a result, there is no need to invoke an additional neon component (Ne-P6) to interpret the data on neon in meteoritic nanodiamonds.