1996A&A...308....1M

We present an abundance analysis of the damped Lymanα (DLA) system seen in the spectrum of the QSO 0000-2619 at z_abs=3.390. From the inspection of ESO NTT high resolution spectra (FWHM ≃12km/s) we identified with a high degree of confidence lines of NI, OI, AlII, SiII and FeII, although some of them are spread through the Lyα forest. By fitting all lines with an automatic procedure which minimizes the residuals, we have computed b values and column densities by taking into account the presence of multiple components in the profiles. The gas phase metal abundances of the system relative to the solar value are [Fe/H]=-2.4±0.16, [Si/H]=-2.5±0.19, [Al/H]=-2.8±0.19, [O/H]=-3.1±0.17, and [N/H]=-2.8±0.17. These metallicities are among the lowest found in extragalactic objects. The relative abundances in this DLA are much closer to solar than to the ratios typical of the halo or of the thick disk stars of the Galaxy, suggesting a chemical history different from that of the Milky Way.