Geophysical Research Letters
RESEARCH LETTER
10.1029/2018GL077913
Key Points:
• Ceres exhibits a stronger 3.4 μm
organic absorption than is generally
observed for the carbonaceous
chondrite meteorites
• Spectral models require 45-65%
meteorite-derived insoluble organic
matter to fit the organic-rich Ceres
spectrum
• Abundances derived from spectral
modeling will depend on the
composition of the organic spectral
endmember
Supporting Information:
• Supporting Information S1
Correspondence to:
H. H. Kaplan,
hannah_kaplan@brown.edu
Citation:
Kaplan, H. H., Milliken, R. E., & Alexander,
C. M. O’D. (2018). New constraints on
the abundance and composition of
organic matter on ceres. Geophysical
Research Letters, 45. https://doi.org/
10.1029/2018GL077913
Received 18 JAN 2018
Accepted 14 MAY 2018
Accepted article online 21 MAY 2018
©2018. American Geophysical Union.
All Rights Reserved.
KAPLAN ET AL.
New Constraints on the Abundance and Composition
of Organic Matter on Ceres
Hannah H. Kaplan1 , Ralph E. Milliken1 , and Conel M. O’D. Alexander2
1
Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, 2Department of
Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC, USA
Abstract Near-infrared reflectance spectra from the Dawn mission at Ceres were recently found to exhibit
a 3.4 μm absorption indicative of the presence of aliphatic organic compounds. Constraints on abundance
and composition of these organics are necessary to inform discussions of their origin. We model reflectance
spectra of organic-bearing regions on Ceres using laboratory spectra of insoluble organics of known
composition extracted from terrestrial sedimentary rocks (i.e., kerogens) and carbonaceous chondrite
meteorites (i.e., insoluble organic matter, IOM). The 3.4 μm aliphatic organic absorptions observed in Dawn
near-infrared data are stronger than those observed in lab spectra of carbonaceous chondrites, and modeling
requires 45% to 65% spectral fraction of IOM to fit spectra from Ceres. The spectral fraction of kerogen
necessary to fit the same Ceres spectra ranges from 5% to 15% depending on the hydrogen to carbon ratio of
the kerogen. Any proposed mechanism of organic delivery or formation on Ceres should explain the
presence of highly concentrated IOM or why the composition is distinct from meteorite-derived IOM if lower
organic abundances are considered more plausible.
Plain Language Summary Organics were recently detected on the dwarf planet Ceres with
infrared spectroscopy. The origin of these organics is, as yet, unknown. Using laboratory spectra of
terrestrial and extraterrestrial (meteorite-derived) organic materials with known composition, we reanalyze
the Ceres spectra to constrain composition and abundance of those organics. Such constraints could help us
discern whether these organics formed on Ceres or were delivered by an impactor.
1. Introduction
Organic compounds were recently identified on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres based on near-infrared
(NIR) reflectance spectra acquired by the Visible and InfraRed (VIR) spectrometer on National Aeronautics and
Space Administration’s Dawn spacecraft (De Sanctis et al., 2017; Pieters et al., 2017). The spectral detection of
aliphatic organics adds to the growing diversity of compounds recognized to be present on Ceres, a list that
includes clay minerals, NH4-bearing phases, carbonates, possibly other hydrated salts, and water ice
(Ammannito et al., 2016; De Sanctis et al., 2015, 2016; Park et al., 2016; Prettyman et al., 2017). These and other
data from the Dawn mission have provided new perspectives on the complex chemical history of Ceres at a
global scale, and although the organic compounds detected thus far are spatially restricted (most notably
near Ernutet crater; De Sanctis et al., 2017), constraining the presence, abundance, and composition of
organics in those locations has the potential to provide insight into the geologic evolution of Ceres and other
primitive bodies.
Without direct sampling of cerean material, carbonaceous (C) chondrite meteorites and insoluble organic
matter (IOM) extracted from them, as well as other types of refractory organic matter, may act as useful
material analogs for organics on Ceres (De Sanctis et al., 2017; McSween et al., 2017; Moroz et al., 1998;
Vernazza et al., 2005). Laboratory measurements of such materials exhibit correlations between NIR spectral
features and independently measured H/C ratios and total organic content (Craddock et al., 2017; Kaplan &
Milliken, 2016, 2018), and by applying these relationships to Dawn VIR data we provide new constraints on
the abundance, composition (H/C), and potential origin of aliphatic compounds on Ceres.
2. Background
Carbonaceous chondrite meteorites contain a wide array of organic compounds that includes amino acids;
hydrocarbons; and insoluble, macromolecular material (IOM), which has sometimes been compared with
1
 Geophysical Research Letters 10.1029/2018GL077913

terrestrial kerogen (Alexander et al., 2017; Gilmour, 2003; Pizzarello et al., 2006; Schmitt-Kopplin et al., 2010).
Yet spectral observations of potential parent bodies for these meteorites, such as C-type asteroids, have not
resulted in widespread detection of organics. One exception is 24 Themis, whose NIR spectral features have
been interpreted to represent water ice and aliphatic organic compounds (Campins et al., 2010; Rivkin &
Emery, 2010). Reflectance spectra of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko also exhibited organic absorptions
when observed by the Rosetta spacecraft (Capaccioni et al., 2015; Quirico et al., 2016), and other comets
(e.g., Halley) and interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) that may come from comets are enriched in refractory
organic matter compared with primitive meteorites (Alexander et al., 2007; Kissel & Krueger, 1987;
Thomas et al., 1993).
Spectral absorptions in ground-based near-infrared observations of Ceres over the 3 to 4 μm region were
variously interpreted as evidence for OH/H2O-bearing clays (King et al., 1992; Lebofsky, 1978; Lebofsky
et al., 1981), mixtures of brucite and carbonate (Milliken & Rivkin, 2009), or ammoniated phyllosilicates
(King et al., 1992), but definitive evidence of organics on Ceres was lacking (e.g., C-H absorptions near
3.4 μm). The inferred bulk chemical composition of Ceres was thus thought to be broadly similar to organic
and clay-bearing C chondrites, though Ceres may have experienced more extensive aqueous alteration than
C chondrite parent bodies (Gaffey, 1976; Milliken & Rivkin, 2009; Rivkin et al., 2011).
Orbital data recently acquired by the Dawn VIR instrument were used to identify the presence of spatially
restricted aliphatic organics based on C-H vibrational absorptions observed near 3.4 μm (De Sanctis et al.,
2017). Other results from Dawn describe Ceres’s geochemistry and mineralogy as consistent with C chondrite
composition (McSween et al., 2017), though an outer solar system origin has also been proposed based on
the presence of ammoniated phases (De Sanctis et al., 2015). An origin in either the asteroid belt or the outer
solar system could result in an organic-rich body. However, it is also possible that the observed organic com-
pounds may have been sourced from outside of Ceres, and experimental data predict that impactors from
the asteroid belt could extensively contaminate the surface of Ceres, especially if the surface is ice rich
(Daly & Schultz, 2015).
The detection of a strong aliphatic absorption opens the door for a new understanding of the geochemical,
thermal, aqueous, and bombardment history of Ceres, but a critical first step is to constrain the type and
abundance of organic compounds. Based on the spectral properties of asphaltite and kerite (terrestrial inso-
luble organic materials that are rich in aliphatic hydrocarbons), De Sanctis et al. (2017) estimated a 4–9%
spectral contribution from organics to the average Dawn VIR spectrum for the organic-bearing regions.
However, this previous spectral fitting effort did not directly address how organic composition may affect
estimates of organic abundance, and studies have shown that both composition and abundance of organic
matter influence C-H absorption features at 3.4 μm (Craddock et al., 2017; Herron et al., 2014; Kaplan &
Milliken, 2016, 2018). In this study, we model the VIR spectra of organic-bearing regions on Ceres using spec-
tral endmembers of terrestrial kerogen and extraterrestrial IOM with independently measured H/C ratios, pro-
viding new constraints on organic abundance and composition from VIR data that can in turn be used to
constrain the geochemical and bombardment history of Ceres.

3. Methods
VIR image cubes from both the high-altitude mapping orbit (HAMO, n = 20) and low-altitude mapping orbit
(LAMO, n = 15) mission phases were calibrated, thermally corrected, and spectrally filtered for a spatial area of
~650 × 650 km centered on Ernutet crater (supporting information Table S3, supplementary section for full
image processing description). A band depth map for aliphatic C–H (3.42 μm) was produced using a linear
continuum removal method (e.g., Clark & Roush, 1984) with tie points at 3.20 and 3.60 μm. Spectra were aver-
aged over regions of interest (ROIs) consisting of ~30–180 pixels that were commonly (but not always) con-
tiguous, on average covering an area of ~15 km2. These ROIs were chosen from a subset of images to cover at
least one organic-rich region.
Reflectance spectra of isolated kerogens extracted from terrestrial sedimentary rocks and IOM extracted from
carbonaceous chondrite meteorites were measured from 0.3 to 25 μm for samples with previously reported
elemental abundances (Alexander et al., 2007, 2010; Kaplan & Milliken, 2018; Schopf, 1983; and full description
in Table S1). C chondrite spectra (n = 64) from the Reflectance Experiment LABoratory database were reana-
lyzed for this study by calculating band depth at 3.42 μm. Laboratory and VIR spectra were resampled to the

KAPLAN ET AL. 2
 Geophysical Research Letters 10.1029/2018GL077913

same wavelengths and converted to single scattering albedo (SSA) via the
a) Ernutet Crater 3.4 µm Band Depth Map model of Hapke (1993; see the supporting information for full description).
Once converted to SSA, which minimizes effects due to multiple scatter-
ing, each Ceres spectrum was modeled as a mixture between two end-
members: Ceres’s average spectrum and a laboratory organic spectrum.
The average Ceres spectrum was obtained from the regional HAMO and
LAMO image data set (two images from each data set that contained the
bulk of the organic spectral signatures were not included in the spectral
average). A nonnegative least squares solution was found between a linear
combination of the two spectral endmembers and the observed Ceres SSA
Band Depth
3.4µm spectrum over the 1.5 to 4.08 μm wavelength range. Additional endmem-
0.15 bers, including a flat line and lines with ±1 slopes, were included to
account for albedo and slope differences between the Ceres spectra. The
10 Km organic spectral fraction was calculated by normalizing the regression
0.05 coefficients of the organic endmember. Eight different organic endmem-
bers were tested in the spectral model to determine the effects of organic
b) Dawn VIR Band Depths composition on modeled organic spectral fractions (Table S2). These least
64 LAMO avg.*
HAMO avg.* squares fits were performed on the average spectra for the ROIs, as well as
56 each spectrum (pixel) in individual HAMO and LAMO images, where the
*HAMO avg. = 1,120,970 pixels latter result in maps of organic spectral abundance that can be compared
48
Count (Pixels)

*LAMO avg. = 522,945 pixels

to local surface morphology. Additional details on VIR data processing and
40 Org. Rich (2903 pixels) modeling are provided in the supporting information.
Org. Poor (3428 pixels)
32
Regional avg.
24
4. Results
4.1. Band Depths
16
Similar to the results of De Sanctis et al. (2017), a strong aliphatic organic
8
absorption at ~3.4 μm was observed in small, spatially coherent regions
0 near Ernutet crater. Absorption strengths (band depth values) in excess
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
of 0.15 were readily distinguished from the organic-poor Ceres values
c) Laboratory Band Depths (band depth < 0.05; Figures 1a and 1b). When compared with band
C Met.

depths from the C chondrite spectral library and spectra of pure IOM,
n = 64 the organic-rich regions on Ceres exhibit stronger C–H absorptions
(Figure 1c). Absorptions in spectra of terrestrial kerogens, however, span
and exceed the range of band depths observed for Ceres (Figure 1c).
Laboratory data show that kerogen band depth values are linearly corre-
IOM

n = 23
lated with H/C for H/C values >~0.2 (Kaplan & Milliken, 2018; Figure 2).
Although IOM spectra also show a linear relationship between band depth
Kerogen

n = 50
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
Band Depth (3.4 µm)
Figure 1. (a) The organic deposits on Ceres are identified by a strong 3.4 μm
absorption with band depths >0.05; (b) histograms of the 3.4 μm band
depth for organic-rich and organic-poor regions near Ernutet. Regional
averages for high-altitude mapping orbit (HAMO) and low-altitude mapping
orbit (LAMO) fall within the organic-poor 3.4 μm band depth range; (c) band
depth ranges for kerogen (50), IOM (23), and C chondrite (64) spectra
measured with a laboratory Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer
for comparison with the VIR data; the box marks the upper and lower
quartiles and includes a median line, tails show the extremes of the distri-
bution, and open circles indicate statistical outliers. Kerogen maximum band
depth (not shown) is 0.85. IOM = insoluble organic matter.
and H/C, IOM spectra exhibit significantly weaker band depths than kero-
gen at equivalent H/C values and span a more limited H/C range
(Alexander et al., 2007; Figure 2).
Pieters et al. (2017) used red slope measurements from high-resolution
0.3
framing camera images (36 m/pixel) to analyze geologic context and found
that the organic material was associated with small, fresh (<50 Ma) craters
that may have formed in a single impact event. Our analysis confirmed the
limited extent of these organic-rich regions as only 3 (out of 20 total) HAMO
and 2 (out of 15 total) LAMO images from the Ernutet region exhibited
larger (20+ pixel) areas with elevated 3.4 μm band depth values. Other
smaller outcrops are seen in the Coniraya quadrangle with framing camera
(Pieters et al., 2017), but their spectral identification at 3.4 μm is less robust.
4.2. Spectral Models
Four kerogen spectra and four IOM spectra (described in Table S2 and
Figure 2) spanning a range of H/C values and spectral properties were

KAPLAN ET AL. 3
 Geophysical Research Letters 10.1029/2018GL077913

a) Reflectance Spectra b) Band Depth vs. H/C

IOM 0.12 IOM
0.04
0.1

0.08
0.03
0.06

0.02 0.04

Band Depth (3.4 µm)

Murchison GRO95577 0.02
Reflectance 0.01
QUE97008 MET01070
0
1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
0.3 1
Kerogen Kerogen
0.25
0.8
0.2
0.6
0.15
0.4
0.1

0.05 0.2
PPRG 440 U4-153
PPRG 114 PPRG 155
0 0
1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
Wavelength (µm) H/C (at.)

Figure 2. (a) Reflectance spectra from 1.5 to 4 μm of the four insoluble organic matter (IOM; red) and four kerogens (black)
used as spectral endmembers; (b) 3.4 μm band depths are correlated with H/C (at.) for both IOM and kerogen spectra,
though on significantly different band depth scales. Samples used in the spectral endmembers are highlighted in yellow.
Errors are reported on the elemental abundances and observed band depths for the IOM.

introduced individually into the spectral mixing model. Compared to the kerogen, the IOM spectra were
darker, spectrally flatter, and showed no evidence of an aromatic C–H absorption near 3.3 μm (Figure 2). An
advantage of modeling SSA spectra instead of reflectance spectra is that an assumption of linear mixing is
more valid for the former (Hapke, 1993). If it is further assumed that regolith particle size, porosity, and bulk
density are not significantly variable across the cerean surface at the spatial scale of VIR data, then the
modeled organic spectral fraction can act as a direct proxy for organic abundance. The organic abundance
(spectral fraction) for organic-rich ROIs was modeled to be between ~2% and 6% if the organic matter is
similar to kerogen or ~30% and 36% if the organic matter is assumed to be spectrally similar to IOM
(Figure 3). However, predicted organic abundance is linked to the H/C of the organic endmember used for
the spectral fits. Spectra of organic endmembers with lower H/C (i.e., weaker aliphatic absorptions)
correspond to higher estimated organic abundances (Figure 3). The estimated organic abundance is also
linked to the structure of the organic endmember. When IOM was used in the spectral model, organic
abundance was estimated to be roughly an order of magnitude greater than for terrestrial kerogens,
despite spectra of IOM having similar C–H absorption strength as spectra of the low-H/C kerogen samples.
This disparity between kerogen and IOM spectral abundances on Ceres was best demonstrated with spectral
models for HAMO image VIR_IR_1B_1_498259058 (Figure 4). Spatially consistent results were found using
low-H/C and high-H/C spectral endmembers, but the predicted organic abundances can differ dramatically,
ranging from 5 to 65 wt.%, depending on which organic endmember was used (again, with kerogen endmem-
bers predicting lower abundances than IOM endmembers; see the supporting information for more details).

5. Discussion
5.1. Organic Abundance and Composition
Aqueously altered C chondrites contain up to ~4 wt.% C and 0–1.5 wt.% H (Alexander et al., 2012; Kerridge,
1985). Organic abundances, which are dominated by IOM, are largely unaffected by the degree of aqueous
alteration but decrease with thermal alteration (Alexander et al., 2007, 2010, 2014; Herd et al., 2011;

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 Geophysical Research Letters 10.1029/2018GL077913

Modeled Organic Abundance of Organic Rich ROIs

0.38 0.1
0.36 IOM

Organic Spectral Fraction

0.34
0.32
0.09
0.3

SSA
0.064 Kerogen
0.048
U4-153 (Kerogen)
0.032 0.08 GRO95577 (IOM)
0.016 Ceres Spectrum
(ROI)
0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
H/C (at.) Wavelength (µm)

Figure 3. (a) Predicted organic abundances for spectral averages from organic-rich regions of interest (ROIs, n = 4) on Ceres.
The ROI is fit with four insoluble organic matter (IOM; red) and four kerogen (black) spectral endmembers (see Figure 2)
with differing H/C (at.); as H/C of the endmember decreases, predicted organic abundance increases. IOM and kerogen
organic abundances are shown on different scales, with the maximum abundances from kerogen ~6% and the maximum
from IOM ~36%. Error bars are due to differences between ROIs and Hapke modeling parameters. (b) An example spectral
fit of a Ceres organic-rich ROI (gray) using IOM (GRO 95577, red) and kerogen (U4-153, black). These fits are performed
on spectra that have been converted from reflectance to single scattering albedo (SSA).

Pearson et al., 2006). If the organics on Ceres are spectrally similar to IOM that is present in C chondrites, our
spectral modeling and band depth comparisons suggest that there must be a significantly higher
concentration of IOM in the organic-rich regions of Ceres than is typically found in C chondrites. Such a
high predicted abundance of IOM leaves open two possibilities: (1) The organic matter on Ceres is not
spectrally and/or compositionally similar to IOM derived from C chondrites and is perhaps more akin to
terrestrial kerogen or (2) there is a higher concentration of IOM on Ceres than is typical for C chondrites, at
least in the region near Ernutet. The latter case may pertain to cometary materials or IDPs, which previous
studies suggest contain 3–4 times the amount of refractory organics as C chondrites (Alexander et al.,
2007; Fomenkova et al., 1994; Kissel & Krueger, 1987; Schramm et al., 1989; Thomas et al., 1993). However,
in situ measurements of material from Halley and 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko indicate that these
comets may contain significantly higher organic abundances, possibly up to 50 wt.% (Bardyn et al., 2017;
Fray et al., 2016). Even so, these high organic contents may not fully account for the predicted 45–65%
organic abundance for individual VIR spectra, and an additional concentration mechanism (e.g., migration
of fluids) may still be required.
Alternatively, if (1) is true then this would imply that the IOM used in this study may not be fully representa-
tive of aliphatic material on all primitive bodies. If the organic matter on Ceres is more similar to kerogen than
IOM, <15 wt.% organic abundance is needed to model the organic-rich regions. A similar estimate is reported
in De Sanctis et al. (2017) when analogous terrestrial organic endmembers and methods are used for spectral
modeling, suggesting that the models are consistent. These results demonstrate that the organic composi-
tion remains an important variable, as the difference in organic abundance between high-H/C and low-H/C
kerogen model results was at least 5 wt.% (Figure 3). Although kerogen has some properties in common with
meteorite-derived IOM and IOM from comets and IDPs (e.g., it is insoluble, macromolecular, and structurally
diverse), it is not directly equivalent to any of these materials in terms of source, isotopes, and environmental
conditions experienced. Indeed, it is unclear if any terrestrial kerogens are structurally similar to extraterres-
trial IOM (Alexander et al., 2017), though some may be spectrally similar in the ~3 to 4 μm wavelength range
(e.g., Moroz et al., 1998) due to the presence of CH2 and CH3 groups in both types of organic compounds.
Elemental surveys of meteorite organics have shown that small bodies in the asteroid belt may have initially
started with similar H/C ratios (~0.8) and IOM abundances in their matrices, both of which decreased with
thermal processing (Alexander et al., 2007; Busemann et al., 2007; Herd et al., 2011), although it is possible
that there was some initial variability in IOM composition between chondrite groups (e.g., Bischoff, 1998;
Orthous-Daunay et al., 2013). IOM in the thermally altered C chondrites that still retain some organic material
have H/C values of ~0.2 (Alexander et al., 2007, 2010). Thus, our organic endmembers span the range of H/C
values expected for a primitive body like Ceres under a range of thermal scenarios. The best fits (lowest root-

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 Geophysical Research Letters 10.1029/2018GL077913

Kerogen

PPRG-440 U4-153
H/C = 0.27 H/C = 0.99
0.13 0.05

0.12 0.045

0.11 0.04
0.1
0.035
0.09
0.03
0.08

Modeled
organic
abundance

IOM

QUE 97008 GRO 95577

H/C = 0.38 H/C = 0.79
0.65 0.45
0.6 0.4
0.35
0.55
0.3
0.5 0.25
0.2
0.45
0.15
0.4

Low H/C High H/C

Figure 4. Spatial distribution of organic abundances for image VIR_IR_1B_1_498259058 using four organic spectral endmembers (high- and low-H/C kerogen and
insoluble organic matter, IOM). Abundances in the most organic-rich regions vary from 5% to 65% depending on the spectral endmember.

mean-square error) of the spectral model are achieved with the highest H/C kerogen, an H/C value that would
be indicative of minimal thermal alteration for Ceres as proposed previously (e.g., McCord & Sotin, 2005;
Thomas et al., 2005).
Significant amounts of organics could be present on Ceres’ surface and remain undetectable in the existing
data. Although the VIR spectra appear to be dominated by aliphatic organic matter, refractory organics such
as IOM, asphaltite, kerite, and kerogens contain both aliphatic and aromatic C–H and C–C bonds. Detection of
aromatic organics with the VIR instrument is limited by the lack of absorptions for these compounds, partly

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 Geophysical Research Letters 10.1029/2018GL077913

due to C–C bonds being infrared inactive or resulting in weak absorptions where they do occur (Kaplan &
Milliken, 2018). An appreciable amount of an unknown “dark” component (≥60% of the spectral fit) was pre-
viously needed to model the mineralogy of the Ceres spectrum (De Sanctis et al., 2015). Though not a unique
interpretation, such a component could result from aromatic organic carbon deposits being widespread
across Ceres. Ground-based UV spectra are also consistent with the presence of graphite (aromatic carbon)
on Ceres (Hendrix et al., 2016), further supporting the possible presence of a widespread carbon component.
Additionally, reflectance spectra of carbonate minerals exhibit absorptions near 3.4 μm that overlap aliphatic
absorptions, and abundant carbonates could mask the presence of lesser amounts of aliphatic compounds.

5.2. Organic History of Ceres

Aliphatic-rich regions on Ceres may be present due to an exogenous source (e.g., delivered by impact; Daly &
Schultz, 2015; Pieters et al., 2017) or the result of endogenous processes (De Sanctis et al., 2017). An
exogenous origin requires that the organics survive impact, and even if a large portion of the impactor
and its organics do persist, it is difficult to imagine a scenario in which >45 wt.% IOM is accumulated and
remains concentrated during regolith gardening. Experiments indicate that up to 68% of an impactor could
survive impact into an icy crust (Daly & Schultz, 2015), 44% of dimethylsulfoxide was shown to survive
low-shock impact scenarios (Burchell et al., 2014), and 4–8% of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons survived
high-shock impact scenarios (Cooper et al., 2014). The degree to which numbers derived from these
experiments are directly relevant to Ceres, and a more generalized understanding of the retention of organics
during impact processes, remains poorly constrained. In the case of the cerean organics, there are some
geologic indications of an impact origin, including the localized association with small, fresh craters
(Pieters et al., 2017). At present, we cannot exclude the possibility that a very organic-rich impactor, possibly
a comet, or an impactor with more kerogen-like than IOM-like organic material, could have disaggregated
during impact and deposited the organics. However, delivery of kerogen-like material may be unlikely given
the observed similarities between cometary CHON and IOM (Alexander et al., 2007, 2017; Fray et al., 2016).
An endogenous origin for the aliphatic compounds has deeper implications for internal structure,
compositional evolution, aqueous geochemistry, and surface processes on Ceres. Ceres may have been more
hydrothermally modified than typical C chondrites due to its large size (e.g., McSween et al., 2017), which
could have produced a distinct organic composition and thus distinct spectral signatures for which IOM is
not an appropriate analog. Additionally, the effects of the space weathering environment on exposed
organic matter (aliphatic or aromatic) are poorly understood (Moroz et al., 2004). One possible scenario is that
near-surface environment of Ceres originally contained organics composed of mixed aliphatic and aromatic
structures (as is common in the meteorite collection) that have been aromatized at the surface via space
weathering (Godard et al., 2011; Lantz et al., 2015); radiation; impact; and/or other, unknown, processes. In
this scenario, the majority of organics at the optical surface would be aromatic and thus extremely difficult
to detect with near-IR spectroscopy, and only the most recent exposures that retain the aliphatic spectral
signature would be observable in VIR data. This and other scenarios are admittedly speculative, but it is
important to note that any discussion of Ceres’s chemical evolution and formation of organics in situ must
explain the limited extent of aliphatic material, the strong aliphatic absorption signature, and the occurrence
and survival of these materials at the modern optical surface.

6. Summary
The recent detection of aliphatic organic matter on Ceres alongside primary minerals and aqueous alteration
products may imply similarities in composition and process between Ceres and parent bodies of organic-
bearing C chondrites. However, a 45–65% spectral abundance of organics is predicted when the organic-rich
regions on Ceres are modeled with a representative spectrum of IOM extracted from C chondrites. These
values greatly exceed the abundance of organic matter in C chondrites, and the cerean absorptions are
stronger than those observed in spectra of pure IOM. Spectral models using terrestrial kerogen as the organic
endmember yield lower organic spectral abundances of 5–15% for the most organic-rich regions, and
abundance is dependent on the composition of the kerogen. A key finding of this work is that organic
abundances retrieved from spectral modeling will be intricately linked with the composition of the spectral
endmember (e.g., H/C values), and organic abundance cannot be uniquely estimated without making an
assumption about the composition of the organic compounds that are being modeled.

KAPLAN ET AL. 7

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge
the NASA Astrobiology Institute (CAN 6:
Foundations of Complex Life) and NASA
Solar System Exploration Research
Virtual Institute (Brown University
SEEED Team) for funding. We would
also like to thank Roger Summons and
Bill Schopf for providing the kerogen
samples used in this work. All data
discussed in this paper are available
through the corresponding author.
Dawn VIR data are available through the
Planetary Data System (PDS)
Asteroid/Dust Archive; samples
discussed in the paper are listed in the
supporting information, and a subset of
the laboratory spectra are presently or
will soon be available in the RELAB
spectral database.
KAPLAN ET AL.
Geophysical Research Letters 10.1029/2018GL077913
These results demonstrate that organics on Ceres are highly concentrated if they are spectrally similar to IOM.
Alternatively, the organic-rich regions on Ceres may be spectrally and compositionally distinct from IOM, in
which case studying the organics on Ceres would provide novel insight into the formation and nature of
organics in the asteroid belt that cannot be gained from studying C chondrites alone. If the source of
aliphatic-rich material on Ceres is endogenous, then it remains to be explained why the organic matter is
concentrated in one region or why it may exhibit kerogen-like spectral properties. If the aliphatic-bearing
regions are instead the result of an impact, then the high modeled abundance of surviving organics or the
unique organic composition of the impactor must be explained. Resolving these issues is likely not possible
from orbital spectroscopy and imaging alone and may instead require in situ analysis or sample return.
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