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Our Solar System formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the collapse of a dense core inside an interstellar molecular cloud. The subsequent formation of solid bodies took place rapidly. The period of &<10 million years over which planetesimals were assembled can be investigated through the study of meteorites. Although some planetesimals differentiated and formed metallic cores like the larger terrestrial planets, the parent bodies of undifferentiated chondritic meteorites experienced comparatively mild thermal metamorphism that was insufficient to separate metal from silicate. There is debate about the nature of the heat source as well as the structure and cooling history of the parent bodies. Here we report a study of 244Pu fission-track and 40Ar-39Ar thermochronologies of unshocked H chondrites, which are presumed to have a common, single, parent body. We show that, after fast accretion, an internal heating source (most probably 26Al decay) resulted in a layered parent body that cooled relatively undisturbed: rocks in the outer shells reached lower maximum metamorphic temperatures and cooled faster than the more recrystallized and chemically equilibrated rocks from the centre, which needed approximately 160 Myr to reach 390K.

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Metamorphic grade of organic matter in six unequilibrated ordinary chondrites) has been investigated with Raman spectroscopy in the region of the first-order carbon bands. The carbonaceous chondrite Renazzo (CR2) was also investigated and used as a reference object for comparison, owing to the fact that previous studies pointed to the OM in this meteorite as being the most pristine among all chondrites. The results show that the OM thermal metamorphic grade: 1) follows the hierarchy Renazzo << Semarkona << other UOCs; 2) is well correlated to the petrographic type of the studied objects; and 3) is also well correlated with the isotopic enrichment d 15 N. These results are strikingly consistent with earlier cosmochemical studies, in particular, the scenario proposed by Alexander et al. (1998). Thermal metamorphism in the parent body appears as the main evolution process of OM in UOCs, demonstrating that nebular heating was extremely weak and that OM burial results in the destabilization of an initial isotopic composition with high dD and d 15 N. Furthermore, the clear discrimination between Renazzo, Semarkona, and other UOCs shows: 1) Semarkona is a very peculiar UOC-by far the most pristine; and 2) Raman spectroscopy is a valid and valuable tool for deriving petrographic sub-types (especially the low ones) that should be used in the future to complement current techniques. We compare our results with other current techniques, namely, induced thermo-luminescence and opaques petrography. Other results have been obtained. First, humic coals are not strictly valid standard materials for meteoritic OM but are helpful in the study of evolutionary trends due to thermal metamorphism. Second, terrestrial weathering has a huge effect on OM structure, particularly in Inman, which is a find. Finally, the earlier statement that fine-grained chondrule rims and matrix in Semarkona could be the source of smectite-rich IDPs is not valid, given the different degree of structural order of their OM.

Abstract-We present a database of magnetic susceptibility measurements on 971 ordinary chondrites. It demonstrates that this parameter can be successfully used to characterize and classify ordinary chondrite meteorites. In ordinary chondrites, this rapid and non-destructive measurement essentially determines the amount of metal in the sample, which occurs in a very narrow range for each chondrite class (though terrestrial weathering can result in a variable decrease in susceptibility, especially in finds). This technique is particularly useful not only for a rapid classification of new meteorites, but also as a check against curation errors in large collections (i.e., unweathered meteorites, the measured susceptibility of which lies outside the expected range, may well be misclassified or misidentified samples). Magnetic remanence, related to magnetic field measurements around asteroids, is also discussed.

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Chromium, silicon, and phosphorus concentrations of 0.1 to 1 percent by weight are common in metal grains in the least metamorphosed ordinary and carbonaceous chondrites. These concentrations are fairly uniform within single chondrules (but different from chondrule to chondrule) and are inversely correlated with the fayalite concentrations of the chondrule olivines. This relation shows that these chromium, silicon, and phosphorus concentrations could not have been established by condensation or equilibration in the solar nebula but are the result of metal-silicate equilibration within chondrules. Two generations of inclusions made by the exsolution of those elements have been identified: One formed during chondrule cooling and the other formed during metamorphism. The distribution and composition of the latter in type 3 to type 5 chondrites are consistent with increasing metamorphism relative to type 2 and type 3.0 material.