Macrochondrules in chondrites-Formation by melting of mega-sized dust aggregates and/or by rapid collisions at high temperatures?

– Seventy‐four macrochondrules with sizes >3 mm were studied. Considering the extraordinary size of the chondrules (occasionally achieving a mass of 1000 times (and more) the mass of a normal‐sized chondrule), the conditions in the formation process must have been somewhat different compared with the conditions for the formation of the common chondrules. Macrochondrules are typically rich in olivine and texturally similar to specific chondrule types (barred, radial, porphyritic, and cryptocrystalline) of normal‐sized chondrules. However, our studies show that most of the macrochondrules are fine‐grained or have elongated crystals (mostly BO, RP, and C), which lead to the assumption that they were once totally molten and cooled quite rapidly. Porphyritic chondrules belong to the least abundant types of macrochondrules. This distribution of chondrule types is highly unusual and just a reverse of the distribution of chondrule types among the typical‐sized chondrules in most chondrite groups except for the CH and CB chondrites. New chondrule subtypes (like radial‐olivine [RO] or multi‐radial [MR] chondrules) are defined to better describe the textures of certain large chondrules. Macrochondrules may have formed due to melting of huge precursor dust aggregates or due to rapid collisions of superheated melt droplets, which led to the growth of large molten spherules in regions with high dust densities and high electrostatic attraction.