538 Annals New York Academy of Sciences 



identification of the mineral content of noncarbonaceous chondrites is usually a 

 rather straightforward process. Mineral analysis in carbonaceous chondrites 

 is more complicated. 



In 1864, Pisani/*'' who was one of the first analysts of Orgueil, noted the 

 presence of magnetite and a "serpentine-like" mineral. More recently, Kvasha^^ 

 reported finding chlorites in Staroye Boriskino. Stulov^*^ concluded that 

 Orgueil, Cold Bokkeveld, and Staroye Boriskino contained chlorite-serpentine 

 type minerals. Mason^^ suggested that all carbonaceous chondrites may con- 

 tain chlorites. Calvin'" found that the water soluble salts in Orgueil and 

 Murray were magnesium sulfate and calcium sulfate, respectively. Sztrokay, 

 Tolnay and Foldvary-Vogl''" performed ore microscopical studies and chemical 

 analyses on the Kaba meteorite. They suggested that carbonaceous meteor- 

 ites may represent an arrested phase of meteorite development. 



Layer lattice silicates (such as chlorite and serpentine) lose structural water 

 at elevated temperatures; Mueller'' and Boato^' came to the conclusion that 

 water lost at high temperature was not a terrestrial contamination. Conse- 

 quently, it is probably safe to conclude that the layer lattice silicates are prod- 

 ucts of the meteorite parent body. 



Experimental Studies 



The experiments were designed to examine the mineral composition and, 

 through this, the parent environment. Six stony meteorites were studied: 

 Orgueil, Murray, Ivuna, Holbrook, St. Marks, and Bruderheim. The last 3 

 are not carbonaceous chondrites; they were used as controls. There were 3 

 different samples of the Orgueil meteorite. One sample (A) was obtained from 

 the collection ot The American A^Iuseum of Natural History, New York. Sam- 

 ple (A) has only recently been acquired by this museum; previously it formed 

 part of an academic collection in the United States. The hydrocarbon analysis 

 reported in the preliminary publication'- was performed on sample (A). 

 The second sample (B) was broken off from meteorite specimen No. 519 of 

 The American Museum of Natural History. Sample (B) has been in the 

 museum collection for several years. The third sample (C) was obtained from 

 the U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C. It was Usted as part of meteor- 

 ite specimen No. 234 and it was noted that the museum originally obtained it 

 from S. Meunier. The samples of the Ivuna, Holbrook, and St. Marks meteor- 

 ites were obtained from The American Museum of Natural History. The 

 Murray sample was received from the Institute of Meteoritics, The University 

 of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it had been labeled as I. 

 O. M. No. CRi-102. The Bruderheim meteorite was obtained from the Depart- 

 ment of Geology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; it had 

 been part of specimen B-79. The chemical analyses of the 3 carbonaceous 

 chondrites are Usted in table 2. The analysis of 1 of the noncarbonaceous 

 chondrites (Holbrook) is included in the table for comparison. The samples 

 were examined for visible impurities with a microscope or by visual examination, 

 or both. 



Trace Element Analysis 



The origin of carbonaceous chondrites has been discussed repeatedly since 

 Berzelius' research in 1834. Recently, Bernal" proposed that the Orgueil 



