NASA NTRS2005
Far from being the relatively unprocessed materials they were once believed to be, we now know that a significant number of carbonaceous chondrites were thermally metamorphosed on their parent asteroid(s). Numerous studies indicate that 7 "CM" and 2 "CI" chondrites have been naturally heated, variously, at from 400 to over 700 C on their parent asteroid(s). Petrographic textures reveal that this thermal metamorphism occurred after the dominant aqueous alteration phase, although some meteorites show evidence of a heating event between two aqueous alteration episodes, i.e. pro- and retrograde aqueous alteration. Aside from the issues of the identification of the transient heat source, timing of metamorphism, and the relation of these materials (if any) to conventional CM and CI chondrites, there is also a mystery related to their recovery. All of these meteorites have been recovered from the Antarctic; none are falls or finds from anyplace else. Indeed, the majority have been collected by the Japanese NIPR field parties in the Yamato Mountains. In fact, one estimate is that these meteorites account for approx. 64 wt% of the CM carbonaceous chondrites at the NIPR. The reasons for this are unclear and might be due in part to simple sampling bias. However we suggest that this recovery difference is related to the particular age of the Yamato Mountains meteorite recovery surfaces, and differences in meteoroid fluxes between the Yamato meteorites and recent falls and substantially older Antarctic meteorites. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.