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SEARS, D. 2004. The Origin of Chondrules and Chondrites.

Cambridge Planetary Science Series. xii +209 pp. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Price £65.00, US $110.00 (hard covers). ISBN 0 521 83603 4.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Chondrites account for more than 65% of all known meteorites and about 86% of those actually seen to fall, and generally contain near-spherical, millimetre-sized beads of silicate called chondrules (Greek chondros = grain) after which they are named. Commonly, chondrules can make up 75% of the volume of the meteorites in which they occur. Many chondrites have remained essentially unaltered since their formation around 4.56 Ga ago, and carry a record of a wide variety of events that took place very early in the history of the Solar System. However, for more than a century, scientists have argued passionately over exactly how, and from what, these enigmatic objects formed. Today, there is general agreement that chondrules formed by rapid cooling of once molten, or partially molten, droplets. What caused the melting, where the melting occurred, and the nature of the starting materials are still subjects of intense debate. Because of their abundance in meteorites, however, deciphering the origin of chondrules is fundamental to our understanding of how the chondrites formed in the infant Solar System.

This book by Derek Sears in . . . [Full Text of this Article]