Calcium-Aluminum-Rich Inclusions from Enstatite Chondrites: Indigenous or Foreign?

The primary mineral assemblages and initial26Al/27Al ratios of rare calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) from enstatite (E) chondrites are similar to those of CAIs from other chondrite classes. CAIs from all chondrite classes formed under oxidizing conditions that are much different from the reducing conditions under which the E chondrites formed. Either CAIs formed at an earlier, more oxidizing epoch in the region where E chondrites ultimately formed, or they formed at a different place in the solar nebula and were transported into the E chondrite formation region.