• journal_title：American Mineralogist
• Contributor：Kevin Righter
• Publisher：Mineralogical Society of America
• Date：2013-08-01
• Format：text/html
• Language：en
• Identifier：10.2138/am.2013.4555
• journal_abbrev：American Mineralogist
• issn：0003-004X
• volume：98
• issue：8-9
• firstpage：1379
• section：Highlights and Breakthroughs

Carbonaceous chondrites make up a majority of asteroids in the asteroid belt, yet are relatively rare in meteorite collections at approximately 5%. The rare CR carbonaceous chondrites are providing a wealth of new discoveries including (1) abundant organic compounds required for biochemical processes, (2) pre-solar mineral grains that hold isotopic records of stellar processes, (3) inclusions, chondrules, and chondrule rims that contain information about the early Solar System, (4) hydrous minerals that formed during aqueous alteration of the matrix and other components, and (5) foreign clasts that formed at slightly higher pressures than normally expected in the early Solar System. All of these discoveries suggest these carbonaceous meteorites will continue providing new information and help to revise our understanding of the broad range of conditions existing in the early Solar System.