L Group

With about 6,500 members (including probable pairings), the chondrites of the L group represent the second largest group of ordinary chondrites. The "L" stands for "low iron" - especially in its free form. L chondrites contain a weight percentage of 20 to 25% total iron, but only 4 to 10% nickel-iron is found as free metal. Therefore, L chondrites are also attracted to a magnet, but much less than their cousins of the H group.

The L chondrites belong to the petrological types 3 - 7, with a characteristic peak at type 6. More than 4,000 have been classified as L6, about 1,300 as L5, just 400 as L4, and only about 300 as L3. Brecciated members that show clasts of several petrologic types do occur, but they are more rare than in the H group. Besides magnetite and nickel-iron, the L chondrites are composed of olivine and the orthopyroxene hypersthene. Consequently, they have been called "olivine hypersthene chondrites" or "hypersthene chondrites" in older literature and papers. However, this name is not fitting modern meteoritics and the Meteoritical Society discourages the use of these names.

When it comes to the origin of the L chondrites it has been suspected that they might be former parts of the near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros which has been intensely studied by the spacecraft NEAR-Shoemaker recently. The reflectance spectra of 433 Eros and the L chondrites seem to match closely - however, most L chondrites show signs of severe shock metamorphism suggesting a violent history of its parent body. Maybe the real parent of the L chondrites was some kind of relative or a former part of 433 Eros that has been entirely disrupted when it collided with another asteroid.

Alfianello L6, W2, S5 Fall in February, 16, 1883, 16 h 15  From Lombardy,Italy 228 kg A rare historical fall from Europe
				Alfianello7 77 x 53 x 30 mm 167 gr ........ !!!!  endcut with crust
Alfianello1 22 x 12 mm 2.582 gr Price: $200
				Alfianello2 28 x 16 mm 2.036 gr Price: $160 Nice shock vein
Alfianello3 28 x 16 mm 2.080 gr Nice shock vein Price: $160
				Alfianello4 33 x 12 mm 2.814 gr Price: $225
Alfianello5 28 x 21 mm 3.556 gr Price: $280
				Alfianello6 30 x 23 x 1.5 mm 3.902 gr Price: $300
Mocs L6   S3-5 Transylvania, Romania  300 kg, Fall the 3 february 1882 16 h 00
				Mocs1 29.3 gr 57 x 60 x 4 mm Price: $580
Mocs2 25.6 gr 48 x 55 x 4 mm Price: $480
				Mocs3 762 gr 95 x 95 x 70 mm Price: HOLD a perfect crusted individual with an open window, has Wien Museum label.....
Chateau-Renard L6 Montargis Loiret, only 30 kg Fall 12 june 1841 13 h 30
Chateau-Renard1 0.416 gr 19 x 6 x 2 mm HOLD  Price: $60 slice
				Chateau-Renard2 0.756 gr 19 x7 x 2 mm Price: $80 HOLD slice
Chateau-Renard3 0.742 gr 17 x 8 x1.5 mm Price: $110 slice
				Chateau-Renard4 1.758 gr 23 x 13 x 2 mm Price: $250 slice
Chateau-Renard5 1.864 gr 17 x16 x2 mm Price: $270 slice
				Chateau-Renard6 1.970 gr 15 x 15 x 2.5 mm Price: $280 slice
Chateau-Renard7 3.312 gr 22 x 19 x 3 mm Price: $400 End cut