Iron-silicate fractionation within ordinary chondrite groups

Abstract

A comparison of recent bulk chemical analyses of fresh, well-classified ordinary chondrites reveals that the unequilibrated H-3 and LL-3 chondrites tend to be iron-poor relative to equilibrated H- and LL-group chondrites (types 4–6). A more complex relationship in the L-group suggests that it consists of two chemical subgroups, in each of which iron is deficient in the lower petrologic types. The available data suggest that the chondrite parent bodies accreted inhomogeneously.