Visible-Infrared spectroscopy of ungrouped and rare meteorites brings further constraints on meteorite-asteroid connections

TL;DR

This study links ungrouped and rare meteorites to specific asteroid types using petrography and reflectance spectroscopy, enhancing understanding of asteroid-meteorite connections and revealing new potential parent bodies.

Contribution

It provides new spectral and petrographic data for ungrouped meteorites, establishing links to asteroid types and improving the classification of meteorite-asteroid relationships.

Findings

Petrographic groups coincide with spectral groups.

Some ungrouped chondrites linked to B-type and Cg-type asteroids.

Metamorphosed ungrouped chondrites matched to S-complex asteroids.

Abstract

Although spectral surveys and spacecraft missions provide information on small bodies, many important analyses can only be performed in terrestrial laboratories. For now, the total number of parent bodies represented in our meteorites collection is estimated to about 150 parent bodies, of which 50 parent bodies represented by the poorly studied ungrouped chondrites. Linking ungrouped meteorites to their parent bodies is thus crucial to significantly increase our knowledge of asteroids. To this end, the petrography of 25 ungrouped chondrites and rare meteorite groups was studied, allowing grouping into 6 petrographic groups based on texture, mineralogy, and aqueous and thermal parent body processing. Then, we acquired visible-near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy data, in order to compare them to ground-based telescopic observations of asteroids. The reflectance spectra of meteorites were obtained on powdered samples, raw samples and polished sections. Our results showed that sample preparation influences the shape of the spectra, and thus asteroid spectral matching, especially for carbonaceous chondrites. Overall, the petrographic groups defined initially coincide with reflectance spectral groups. We define links between some of the studied ungrouped chondrites and asteroid types that had no meteorite connection proposed before, such as some very primitive type 3.00 ungrouped chondrites to B-type or Cg-type asteroids. We also matched metamorphosed ungrouped carbonaceous chondrites to S-complex asteroids, suggesting that this complex is not only composed of ordinary chondrites or primitive achondrites, as previously established, but may also host carbonaceous chondrites. Conversely, some ungrouped chondrites could not be matched to any known asteroid type, showing that those are potential samples from yet unidentified asteroid types.