Natural Magnetic Moments of Two Chondritic Meteorites

Abstract

MOST of the secondary or chondritic meteorites are composed of irregular grains of silicate, sulphide, phosphide, oxide and metal phases. They are generally thought to be fragments of secondary meteorite bodies which were themselves accumulations of debris from disrupted primary bodies. The process of compaction of the secondary bodies does not appear to have been accompanied by sufficient heating to have melted any of the constituent phases^1,2, which leads to the general conclusion that these secondary bodies did not have fluid, conducting cores capable of producing terrestrial-type magnetic fields, as is possible in the primary meteorite bodies³. This implies that alignment of magnetic particles or induction of thermo-remanent or chemical magnetization is unlikely to have occurred in the secondary bodies and therefore that the chondritic meteorites would not be expected to have magnetic moments other than those acquired on the Earth.