[meteorite-list] What's a chondrule-what's not a chondrule?

From: Walter L. Newton <newtonw2_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Jul 6 10:06:54 2006
Message-ID: <000d01c6a105$6c9d14a0$6ad70818_at_walter>

Hi list, a little technical question.

I understand what a chondule is, but sometime, when looking at a slice of a
meteorite, I am confused as to what they always look like.

I have a polished slice of NWA 787 (same as NWA 869). I see light brown
sphere's but I also see light brown ellipsoid (is that the word I'm looking
for?) splotches. The same thing exists for some light grey patches.

The there are light brown or light grey "lines," maybe 2-3mm long. Is that a
clast or inclusion or what?

In a slice of NWA 2859 (H4) I see a few round grey metal patches. I suspect
that just so happens to be a round blob of iron, not a chondrule.

Most of the time when I see a picture that points out chondrules, the
illustration always points to round objects. Do I assume if it's not round,
it's not a chondrule?

Walter L. Newton
Golden, Co
Received on Thu 06 Jul 2006 10:06:49 AM PDT