Relationships with CM-type chondrites

Abstract

Colleagues still have trouble understanding how the dominant relationship between CM-type chondrites and AMMs was established. They also wonder about the meaning of this relationship in terms of solar system history, and they generally expect that it has been markedly altered upon atmospheric entry, except for the smallest particles collected in the stratosphere. They are also confused when hearing that in spite of strong similarities there are also marked differences between these two varieties of solar system materials. Consequently, some of them believe that this relationship has not been convincingly established. This section mostly relies on arguments already presented by Kurat and Maurette (1997) in a book published in French, which have only been improved recently through the analysis of the Concordia Antarctic micrometeorites (Duprat et al., 2003 and 2004). © Springer 2006.