Nebular condensation of moderately volatile elements and their abundances in ordinary chondrites

Two models accounting for the concentrations of moderately volatile elements in ordinary chondrites are discussed. The first relies on an apparent correlation between ordinary chondrite/type-I carbonaceous chondrite abundance ratios and ideal solution-condensation temperatures of such elements as Sn, Cu, Li, Na, and Mn to construct a model in which volatiles are lost as gases before nebular condensation or as finely-divided solids that are incompletely agglomerated, and the condensation/agglomeration efficiency declines as a function of time. The second theory largely discounts this gas-dust diffraction effect and instead proposed condensation on matrix and volatization from chondules and coarse metal grains as mechanisms explaining the apparent existence of three distinct classes of volatile-element abundance in ordinary chondrites.