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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 CV7 means:

"A carbonaceous chondrite of the CV group that is petrologic type 7."

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.

CV group: The Vigarano (CV) chemical group of carbonaceous chondrites, distinguished by large (mm-sized) chondrules, many of which are surrounded by igneous rims, large refractory inclusions and abundant matrix (40 vol%). CV chondrites are divided into oxidized and reduced subgroups. If simply classified as CV, the meteorite has not been assigned to either subgroup.

type 7: Designates chondrites which have been metamorphosed to nearly the point of melting. Minerals are equilibrated and chondrules are indistinct or absent. This term is not used consistently or widely accepted in the literature.


Find all meteorites of type: CV7