2015MNRAS.449.2250K

On the basis of the most recent view on the local interstellar medium consisting of a single continuous cloud, termed the Local Cloud, we study the destruction of interstellar dust by the propagation of a shock wave in the Local Cloud. We survey gas-phase column densities of dust-forming elements in the literature to determine how the dust destruction fraction varies with the angle from the minor axis of the cloud. Our results indicate that the propagation of a shock wave destroyed approximately 20 percent of interstellar dust towards the minor axis of the cloud pointing near the anti-apex of motion with a shock of <100 km/s, weaker than previously expected. The gas-to-dust ratio of the Local Cloud is approximately 120 towards the apex of cloud motion and organic-forming elements occupy 40 percent of the mass in the dust phase. We find that a correlation in the gas-phase abundances between silicon and magnesium is consistent with the destruction of silicate grains with enstatite stoichiometry. We also derive the most plausible composition of interstellar dust from the dust-phase elemental abundances and the correlations between the dust-forming elements. We suggest that the major constituents of interstellar dust are organic materials, magnesium silicates and iron alloys, while the minor ones are spinels and iron sulphides. Since no organic materials have been detected in the grains that penetrate into the Solar system, we claim that the composition of interstellar dust may not remain intact en route to the inner Solar system.