In this study, the metal and sulfide compositions of 45 enstatite chondrites were analyzed to determine possible mineral-chemical trends correlated with the petrologic type. Data for 35 additional samples were taken from the literature. Considering the data from this huge number of different E chondrite samples (80 in total), none of the trends previously described in the literature could be clearly confirmed. Also, among the opaque phases of enstatite chondrites, no other "new" correlations between mineral chemistry and the petrologic type were found. However, major differences in the sulfide and metal chemistry became obvious. Specifically, a certain number of chondrites in the EH and the EL groups have Cr in troilite above 2 wt%, Fe in niningerite or alabandite above 20 wt%, and lack abundant daubr eelite. Differences were also found for Ni concentrations in kamacite. Thus, we propose a system for classifying E chondrites by defining four major subgroups: EH a , EL a , EH b , and EL b . All subgroups show full petrologic sequences that are similar to each other. This observation, in combination with the differences in sulfide and metal chemistry, suggests an origin of the samples from different parent bodies. Considering the anomalous E chondrite samples that neither fit in the previous classification scheme nor in the new one described here, the samples investigated in this study require at least eight different parent bodies.

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On October 7, 2008, the asteroid 2008 TC 3 exploded as it entered the Earth's atmosphere, producing significant dust (in the atmosphere) and delivering thousands of stones in a strewn field in Sudan, collectively known as the Almahata Sitta (AhS) stones. About 600 fragments were officially recovered in 2008 and 2009. Further rocks were collected since the fall event by local people. From these stones, 249 were classified at the Institut f ür Planetologie in M ünster (MS) known as MS-xxx or MS-MU-xxx AhS subsamples. Most of these rocks are ureilitic in origin (168; 67%): 87 coarse-grained ureilites, 60 fine-grained ureilites, 15 ureilites with variable texture/mineralogy, four trachyandesites, and two polymict breccias. We identified 81 non-ureilitic fragments, corresponding to 33% of the recovered samples studied in M ünster. These included chondrites, namely 65 enstatite chondrites (43 EL; 22 EH), 11 ordinary chondrites (OC), one carbonaceous chondrite, and one unique R-like chondrite. Furthermore, three samples represent a unique type of enstatite achondrite. Since all AhS stones must be regarded as individual specimens independent from each other, the number of fresh ureilite and enstatite chondrite falls in our meteorite collections has been increased by several hundred percent. Overall, the samples weigh between <1 and 250 g and have a mean mass of ~15 g. If we consider-almost 15 years after the fall-the mass calculations, observations during and after the asteroid entered the atmosphere, the mineralogy of the C1 stones AhS 91A and AhS 671, and the experimental work on fitting the asteroid spectrum (e.g., Goodrich et al., 2019;Jenniskens et al., 2010;Shaddad et al., 2010), the main portion of the meteoroid was likely made of the fine-grained (carbonaceous) dust and was mostly lost in the atmosphere. In particular, the fact that C1 materials were found has important implications for interpreting asteroid 2008 TC 3 's early spectroscopic results. Goodrich et al. (2019) correctly suggested that if scientists had not recovered the "water-free" samples (e.g., ureilites, enstatites, and OC) from the AhS strewn field, 2008 TC 3 would have been assumed to be a carbonaceous chondrite meteoroid. Considering that the dominating mass of the exploding meteoroid consisted of carbonaceous materials, asteroid 2008 TC 3 cannot be classified as a polymict ureilite; consequently, we state that the asteroid was a polymict carbonaceous chondrite breccia, specifically a polymict C1 object that may have formed by late accretion at least 50-100 Ma after calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions.

Abstract-Seventy-four macrochondrules with sizes >3 mm were studied. Considering the extraordinary size of the chondrules (occasionally achieving a mass of 1000 times (and more) the mass of a normal-sized chondrule), the conditions in the formation process must have been somewhat different compared with the conditions for the formation of the common chondrules. Macrochondrules are typically rich in olivine and texturally similar to specific chondrule types (barred, radial, porphyritic, and cryptocrystalline) of normal-sized chondrules. However, our studies show that most of the macrochondrules are fine-grained or have elongated crystals (mostly BO, RP, and C), which lead to the assumption that they were once totally molten and cooled quite rapidly. Porphyritic chondrules belong to the least abundant types of macrochondrules. This distribution of chondrule types is highly unusual and just a reverse of the distribution of chondrule types among the typical-sized chondrules in most chondrite groups except for the CH and CB chondrites. New chondrule subtypes (like radialolivine [RO] or multi-radial [MR] chondrules) are defined to better describe the textures of certain large chondrules. Macrochondrules may have formed due to melting of huge precursor dust aggregates or due to rapid collisions of superheated melt droplets, which led to the growth of large molten spherules in regions with high dust densities and high electrostatic attraction.

On April 23 rd 2013 at 2:07 a. m. a 1.3 kg meteorite fell in the Braunschweig suburb Melverode (52° 13' 32.19'' N. 10° 31' 11.60'' E). Its estimated velocity was 250 km/h and it formed an impact pit in the concrete with a diameter of 7 cm and a depth of 3 cm. Radial dust striae are present around the impact pit. As a result of the impact, the meteorite disintegrated into several hundred fragments with masses up to 214 g. The meteorite is a typical L6 chondrite, moderately shocked (S4)but with a remarkably high porosity (up to 20 vol%). The meteorite was ejected from its parent body as an object with a radius of about 10-15 cm (15-50 kg). The U,Th-He gas retention age of ~550 Ma overlaps with the main impact event on the L-chondrite parent body ~470 Ma ago that is recorded by many shocked L chondrites. The preferred cosmic-ray exposure age derived from production of radionuclides and noble gas isotopes is (6.0 ± 1.3) Ma.