Meteorites: A Petrologic, Chemical and Isotopic Synthesis

Abstract

Meteorites, through their astonishingly diverse record of exotic geological environments that chronicle the formation of the solar system, provide us with a material connection to our fundamental origins. They inform us about processes including condensation of Stardust in stellar outflows, formation of the solar nebula cloud, interactions between water and minerals on asteroids, planetary core formation, and igneous as well as surface processes on Mars and the Moon. Meteorites: A Petrologic, Chemical and Isotopic Synthesis is a book that invites one to explore the wonders of our solar system and beyond. This book, written by Robert Hutchison, is loosely modeled as an update of the classic volume by Dodd [1981]. In the intervening 24 years, meteoritics has undergone a fast‐paced revolution, resulting from the recovery of thousands of new samples from Antarctica and the hot deserts, combined with dramatic progress in analytical techniques.