Meteorite class · Meteorite

Chondrite

Olivine, pyroxene, Fe–Ni metal, chondrules

Chondrites are stony meteorites containing chondrules, millimetre spheres that condensed in the solar nebula 4.56 billion years ago; ordinary chondrites (H, L, LL) are the commonest meteorites and are sold by the gram from Northwest Africa (NWA numbers), Chelyabinsk and Allende (a carbonaceous CV3). Fresh falls with black fusion crust command premiums; NWA finds are cheap. Classification comes from the Meteoritical Bulletin and should be quoted on the label.

Formula	Olivine, pyroxene, Fe–Ni metal, chondrules
IMA status	meteorite
Mohs hardness	5–6
Group	Meteorite
Type locality	None

Fakes and treatments

Unclassified 'NWA' stones may be terrestrial; cut face should show chondrules and metal flecks. Allende is imitated with basalt.

Elsewhere

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Chondrite" (Mineral). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19. https://stratum.black/study/minerals/chondrite. Accessed 2026-09-20.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-chondrite,
  title        = {Chondrite},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/minerals/chondrite}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Mineral article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19; sources: stratum, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-20.}
}

Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.