ORGANIC MATERIAL IN CHONDRITIC METEORITES HAS CHEMICAL ISOTOPIC STRUCTURAL AND TEXTURAL CHARACTERISTICS THAT RESULT FROM A COMPLEX SERIES OF PROCESSES THAT OCCURRED IN DIFFERENT ASTROPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS. THESE INCLUDE THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM THE SOLAR NEBULA AND ASTEROIDAL PARENT BODIES. RECENT STUDIES OF ORGANIC MATERIAL IN CHONDRITES HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT PARENT BODY PROCESSING HAS A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS ORGANIC MATERIAL. IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE EVOLUTION OF ORGANIC MATERIAL THAT WAS ACCRETED INTO ASTEROIDAL PARENT BODIES IT IS ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTAND HOW DIFFERENT PARENT BODY PROCESSES MAY HAVE AFFECTED ORGANIC MATERIALS UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS OF ALTERATION. WE PROPOSE TO EXAMINE THE CHEMICAL STRUCTURAL ISOTOPIC AND TEXTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANIC MATTER IN SITU IN CHONDRITIC METEORITES TO GAIN A FULLER UNDERSTANDING OF THE COMPLEX PROCESSES THAT HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO ITS FORMATION AND SUBSEQUENT PROCESSING. BY STUDYING CHONDRITIC METEORITES THAT HAVE EXPERIENCED DIFFERENT DEGREES AND STYLES OF ALTERATION SUCH AS CM CR AND CO CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES AS WELL AS UNEQUILIBRATED ORDINARY CHONDRITES WE HOPE TO CONSTRAIN THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORGANICS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED OR MODIFIED FROM THEIR ORIGINAL PREACCRETIONARY STATE BY BOTH AQUEOUS ALTERATION AND THERMAL PROCESSING IN THE PRESENCE OF AN AQUEOUS FLUID. OUR PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT PROGRESSIVE AQUEOUS ALTERATION ON ASTEROIDAL PARENT BODIES CAUSED SIGNIFICANT MODIFICATION TO THE STRUCTURE AND CHEMISTRY OF THE ORGANIC MATERIAL AS A RESULT OF FLUID-MINERAL-ORGANIC INTERACTIONS AND ALSO CHANGED THE DISTRIBUTION AND TEXTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS MATERIAL. BY STUDYING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ORGANIC MATERIAL AND ALTERATION MINERALOGY WE WILL CONSTRAIN HOW DIFFERENT DEGREES AND STYLES OF ALTERATION AFFECTED ORGANIC MATERIAL AND USE THIS INFORMATION TO CONSTRAIN THE PROCESSES THAT HAVE OCCURRED WITHIN ASTEROIDAL PARENT BODIES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE EVOLUTION OF THE ORGANIC MATERIALS. WE WILL ALSO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT ORGANIC MATERIAL IS SENSITIVE TO THE CONDITIONS OF ALTERATION AND THAT VARYING CONDITIONS (T FO2 ETC) AS WELL AS DURATION OF ALTERATION ARE REFLECTED IN THE CHEMISTRY STRUCTURE TEXTURE ETC. OF THE ORGANICS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL UTILIZE COORDINATED SPECTROSCOPIC ISOTOPIC AND MINERALOGICAL MICRO AND NANOANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES SUCH AS SEM STXM-BASED XANES TEM AND NANOSIMS. THESE TECHNIQUES WILL BE USED TO CHARACTERIZE THE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONAL GROUP CHEMISTRY STABLE ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION (H C N) TEXTURAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MINERAL-ORGANIC RELATIONSHIPS IN SITU IN SAMPLES THAT HAVE BEEN PREPARED USING FOCUSED ION BEAM TECHNIQUES FROM DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE METEORITES. THESE COMBINED TECHNIQUES ALLOW DATA TO BE OBTAINED THAT CAN BE CORRELATED AT THE SCALE OF ~100 NM ALLOWING ALL BUT THE SMALLEST ORGANIC GRAINS TO BE CHARACTERIZED. THESE OBSERVATIONS WILL BE MADE IN THE CONTEXT OF DETAILED LARGER-SCALE MINERALOGICAL STUDIES OF CHONDRITIC METEORITES THAT PROVIDE CONSTRAINTS ON THE STYLE AND DEGREE OF ALTERATION. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS RELEVANT TO THE EMERGING WORLDS PROGRAM BECAUSE IT ADDRESSES THE CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS THAT ARE RELEVANT TO THE FORMATION OF PLANETS SATELLITES AND MINOR BODIES INCLUDING DUST AND TO THE EARLY HISTORY OF THESE BODIES. THE WORK SPECIFICALLY ADDRESS THE CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ANCIENT MATERIALS (INCLUDING ASTEROIDS AND COMETS) AND THE EARLY THERMAL AND CHEMICAL PROCESSES OCCURRING ON SMALL BODIES BOTH STATED AREAS OF RELEVANCE IN SECTION C.2 EMERGING WORLDS OF 2016 NASA-ROSES. OUR PROPOSED WORK FALLS UNDER THE CATEGORIES OF LABORATORY STUDIES AND STUDIES OF THE CHEMICAL AND ISOTOPIC PROPERTIES OF PLANETARY MATERIALS WHICH ARE SUPPORTED UNDER THE EMERGING WORLDS PROGRAM.