[meteorite-list] L chondrites vs. H and LL

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:28 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C86901B4EE1C_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi Eric and List,

> Maybe instead of a dip at 10-100 grams the chart is showing an
> overabundance in the 100-1000 gram range. That would also
> drive the median mass higher. If you plot the L chondrites
> by either location or recovery year is there one year or
> location that skews the numbers. In otherwords is there a
> single strewn field that causes your double peak, or is
> this a general feature of the L chondrites?

Difficult to say. The online Antarctic database that I'm using
contains somewhat limited information about each find. It lists
neither the find coordinates nor the find date, though the find
year can be assumed based on the meteorite name.

However, there is some pairing information which might provide some
clues. For example, there are 14 L4s in the TIL 91700-91723 series
that are paired, with masses varying from 127.2 grams to 1086 grams.
But I just noticed there are also 125 (!) paired L5s in the QUE 90201
group, and on average the masses seem pretty high for this group.
Since my analysis includes a total of 801 L-chondrites, the QUE 90201
group represents 15.6% of the data! So it's probably worth plotting
this group by itself and/or the rest of the L data without it.
I'll post a link when I've done so... --Rob
Received on Tue 14 Oct 2003 08:36:29 PM PDT