C - Cryptocrystalline Chondrules

Cryptocrystalline chondrules were probably completely melted and therefore lacked seed crystals from which larger crystals or laths could easily grow. What fibers did form in the short time before solidification are extremely fine, short and aligned in various directions within the chondrule. There is evidence that at least some cryptocrystalline chondrules condensed directly from vapor.

This chondrule has zones that stand out in crossed polarized light because of the preferred orientations of fiber bundles. Individual fibers are too fine to be resolved with an optical microscope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the polarizing filters rotating we can see optical extinction moving across the small zones of submicroscopic fibers. This points to a genetic relation to radial pyroxene chondrules.