Chondritic meteorites and their components: Clues to the history of the early Solar System
Dr Alexander N. Krot | Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, USA | University of Copenhagen, Denmark | Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
Abstract: Chondritic meteorites (chondrites) are fragments of asteroids that accreted inside and outside Jupiter’s orbit within first 2-5 million years of the Solar System evolution. Most chondrites experienced thermal metamorphism and aqueous alteration on their parent asteroids, but avoided melting and igneous differentiation. Chondrites are aggregates of three major components (chondrules, refractory inclusions and fine-grained matrix) which formed in the protoplanetary disk and preserved important records of disk processes, which, however, were overprinted by subsequent asteroidal processes to various degrees. Here, I will review recent progress in understanding disk and asteroidal processes recorded by chondrites and their components.