Glasses in meteorites: a unification model.

MARIA EUGENIA VARELA; KURAT GERO,

METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE

Año: 2004 vol. Supp p. 109 - 110

1086-9379

Introduction: Glasses are present in the oldest rocks we know, chondrites, achondrites and iron meteorites. They occur as glass inclusions in olivines and pyroxenes in carbonaceous, ordinary and enstatite chondrites (CC, OC, EC), as mesostasis in chondrules, as glass patches in angrites, as glass spheres and fragments in howardites and iron meteorites or fill open spaces in angrites and eucrites (e.g., hollow spheres, druses and fractures). In chondrites, glasses are widely believed to be the result of igneous processes [1,2]. On the other hand, glasses in achondrites are assumed to have an impact origin, as their major element chemical composition is similar to that of their respective bulk rocks [3,4]. However, according to our data [5-10] we speculate that all glasses are the result of an unique universal process, the nature of which is discussed below.