¹Yves Marrocchi,²Emmanuel Jacquet,²Julia Neukampf,²Johan Villeneuve,³Michael E. Zolensky
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13947]
¹Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRPG, UMR 7358, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, 54500 France
²Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, CP52, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France
³X12 Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, 77058 USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

The ungrouped carbonaceous chondrite (CC) Bells has long been considered petrographically similar to CM chondrites based on its matrix abundance and degree of aqueous alteration, but also shows significant isotopic affinities to CR chondrites. Its taxonomic status is thus important for clarifying the relationship of the CRHB (formerly “CR”) clan with other CCs. In this study, we measured the oxygen isotopic compositions of olivines in type I chondrules and isolated olivine grains in Bells. Bells olivines mostly have ∆17O > −4‰, similar to CR chondrites but unlike other CCs that are rich in refractory inclusions, in which chondrules are generally richer in 16O. Therefore, Bells is a CR chondrite (albeit an anomalous one), most similar to the rare, matrix-rich CRs like Al Rais. These chondrites (i) may not necessarily derive from the same primary parent body as mainstream CRs, (ii) bear witness to significant variations of the matrix/chondrule ratio within the CRHB clan, and (iii) may be a good analog for samples retrieved by the space mission OSIRIS-REx.