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Description
A group of Polish physicists and mineralogists has been studying meteorites using Mössbauer spectroscopy for over 30 years [1].
Since Fe-57 is the isotope commonly used in Mössbauer spectroscopy, it is not surprising that this method is widely applied in the study of meteorites that often contain iron. For many years, our group has focused on ordinary chondrites. The Mössbauer spectra of ordinary chondrites typically consist of two doublets associated with silicates (olivine and pyroxene), as well as two sextets corresponding to metallic phases and troilite. In weathered samples, additional doublets corresponding to trivalent iron in an oxidized state also appear.
We have compiled a comprehensive Mössbauer dataset, which allowed us to develop a new classification method of ordinary chondrites called the 4M method (Meteorites, Mössbauer spectroscopy, Multidimensional discriminant analysis, Mahalanobis distance) [2].
Interestingly, the 4M classification method closely matches the traditional classification based on fayalite and ferrosilite contents determined by the electron microprobe analysis. These two methods are based on parameters characteristic for ordinary chondrites, which were shaped at very different stages of the evolution of the Solar System. We aim to answer a fundamental question: Why can these two distinct methods lead to the same classification results?
[1] J. Gałązka-Friedman et al., Postępy Fizyki, 75(2), 3 (2024), DOI: 10.61947/uw.PF.2024.75.2.3-16
[2] M. Woźniak, et al., Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 54(8), 1828-1839 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13314
