Major and trace elements in the Allende meteorite

Abstract

WE have determined major and trace element abundances for seven Ca,Al-rich aggregates, ten melilite chondrules, and an olivine chondrule and two olivine-rich aggregates from the Allende meteorite, a type III carbonaceous chondrite. Major element abundances were determined with the electron microprobe technique described by Reed and Ware1. An MS7 spark source mass spectrometer was used for the determination of trace element abundances. The technique used was that described by Taylor2 but with improved and extended data reduction techniques. The precision is about ±5% for the rare earth elements (REEs) and the accuracy about ±10%, but varies somewhat, being poorer for elements below mass number 105 than for those with higher mass numbers.