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Recommended classifications

Recommended classes in the Meteoritical Bulletin Database are assigned by the database editor. In most cases, this is based on the most recent classification that appears in either the Catalogue of Meteorites, MetBase, the US Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter, the Japanese Meteorite Newsletter, or the Meteoritical Bulletin. However, in a few cases it reflects differences of opinion about the proper way to classify the meteorite. The nomenclature used may also be modified by the editor to conform to an internally consistent classification scheme

The recommended classification CK6 means:

"A carbonaceous chondrite of the CK group that is anomalous and petrologic type 6."

The highlighted words are defined as follows:

carbonaceous chondrite: A major class of chondrites that mostly have Mg/Si ratios near the solar value and oxygen isotope compositions that plot below the terrestrial fractionation line.

CK group: The Karoonda (CK) chemical group of carbonaceous chondrites, distinguished by abundant fine-grained matrix (~75 vol%), mm-sized chondrules that lack igneous rims, relatively few refractory inclusions, and a high degree of oxidation; most CK chondrites have been metamorphosed to type 4 or higher.

anomalous: Designates meteorites that have been determined to be a member of a specific group, but have certain properties that are unusual or distinctive.

type 6: Designates chondrites that have been metamorphosed under conditions sufficient to homogenize all mineral compositions, convert all low-Ca pyroxene to orthopyroxene, coarsen secondary phases such as feldspar to sizes ≥50 µm, and obliterate many chondrule outlines; no melting has occurred.


Find all meteorites of type: CK6