| Abstract: | The Kaidun meteorite exhibits an incredible diversity of extraterrestrial material. The parent body of the meteorite is mainly composed of carbonaceous chondrite material of the second petrological type. The meteorite is specific in its composition: it contains numerous fragments and inclusions formed at an early stage of the Solar System evolution by nebular condensation, gaseous metasomatosis, agglomeration, and other processes, and two different fragments of alkaline-enriched differentiated material, which entered the parent body as a result of different events. The data on the lithologic composition of the Kaidun meteorite give strong arguments for considering the meteorite's parent body to be a carbonaceous chondrite satellite of a large differentiated planet. Phobos, the moon of Mars, is the most probable candidate. Many features of the Kaidun meteorite can be well explained within the framework of the popular hypothesis of Phobos' origin based on the nebular capture model. |
