Since I posted from M&PS, here’s more of April:
Burbine, T. H. Greenwood, R. C. Zhang, B. et al. How many Vesta-like bodies existed in … p. 878 14134
Rubin, A. E. Turrin, B. D. Nature and timing of a significant reduction event on the L-ch… p. 836 14088
It’s about fluids this issue. Regarding Vesta (and putative Vestoids, quasi-Vestas, and their extant samples), there existed some number of asteroids big enough to differentiate. (That is, they held onto primordial heat, to the point of forming majority magma. This magma then separates, like oil and water, by weight. Except here the water is metals and denser rock, oil would be lighter rock. The lightest components boiled off to space, pretty much.) The question is, we see Vesta; Ceres is big but too icy; how many other such asteroids existed, going by our meteorite evidence?
The parent body of the L-chondrite meteorites did not differentiate. Still, the history of the Solar System is such that the parent asteroid(s?) saw lesser heating and alteration. Rock doesn’t melt and flow at such temperatures, but plenty of other things do. Per Rubin Turrin, those L-chondrites appear to show a history of “other things”- water from melted ice, possibly organics, and in between, the altered (decomposition) products of water plus organics plus heat.
If you like puzzles, what’s not to like. Pairing meteorites, sorting by group/class/clan (including potential new groups), deducing cross-contamination and ‘pre-contamination’ (presolar materials), and their multi-alteration histories. Heat, water, and now ‘water’ and water adjuncts. The entirety of the Solar System (including the prior Solar System- its history) is a puzzle, and asteroids/meteorites the huge pile of puzzle pieces.