Quantitative methods for three-dimensional comparison and petrographic description of chondrites

X-ray computed tomography can be used to generate three-dimensional (3D) volumetric representations of chondritic meteorites. One of the challenges of using collected X-ray tomographic data is the extraction of useful data for 3D petrographic analysis or description. Here, I examine computer-aided quantitative 3D texture metrics that can be used for the classification of chondritic meteorites. These quantitative techniques are extremely useful for discriminating between chondritic materials, but yield little information on the 3D morphology of chondrite components. To investigate the morphology of chondrite minerals such as Fe(Ni) metal and related sulfides, the homology descriptors known as Betti numbers, are examined. Both methodologies are illustrated with theoretical discussion and examples. Betti numbers may be valuable for examining the nature of metal-silicate structural changes within chondrites with increasing degrees of metamorphism. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.