The chondritic meteorites have “solar” compositions, indicating that they have avoided fractionation in planetary processes such as partial melting or fractional crystallization. Since chondrites contain solar proportions of volatiles having nebular condensation temperatures ≤500 K, it follows that agglomeration of grains and accretion to parent bodies occurred after the nebula had cooled to such low temperatures, and, that models calling for simultaneous condensation and accretion of high-temperature minerals such as Fe-Ni metal or ferromagnesian silicates are implausible.

Two independent intergroup fractionations have been recognized in chondritic materials; refractory element abundances (e.g., the Ca/Si ratio) and degree of oxidation measured by the FeO/(FeO + MgO) ratio decrease through the chondrite sequence: carbonaceous-ordinary-IAB-E. Hiatus between groups result from incomplete sampling by the Earth of the original spectrum. A plausible speculation is that this sequence reflects formation at different nebular pressures and temperatures, the fine-grained, oxidized, volatile-rich carbonaceous chondrites forming at lower temperatures >5 AU from the Sun, and the reduced enstatite chrondrites forming at higher temperatures near the Sun. The high fall frequency of the three groups of ordinary chondrites suggests an origin in the asteroid belt. The degree of oxidation of the IAB chondrites appears to be slightly lower than that of the Earth, suggesting an origin near or slightly less than 1 AU from the Sun. The O-isotope compositions of chondrites are consistent with this picture.

Asteroids tend to be light or dark, with a hiatus in properties between these two classes. This can be understood if the light materials are ordinary chondrites originally formed at 2.2-3.5 AU, whereas the dark materials originated at >5 AU, and were deposited in the asteroid belt during a later period as a result of a major increase in the influx of cometary materials through the inner sc1ar system associated with the generation of the Oort cloud of comets.