Mössbauer spectroscopy—a useful method for classification of meteorites?

The aim of our studies was to check the usefulness of M¨ossbauer spectroscopy for preliminary classification of ordinary chondrites. M¨ossbauer spectra of 50 samples of ordinary chondrites (type LL, L and H) obtained at room temperature were analyzed. 35 M¨ossbauer spectra were obtained in our laboratory, the other spectra were taken from the literature. The conclusion of our study was, that the most useful way for the preliminary classification of the ordinary chondrites is the application of two types of plots based on the data obtained by M¨ossbauer spectroscopy. One type of these plots is a linear plot which was used for the identification of the samples which are unrepresentative. The second type of these plots is a plot of “spectral area of the olivine” vs “spectral area of the metallic phase”. This last one was used for the identification of two unknown meteorites.