| Abstract: | Abstract— The (compositionally) closely related iron meteorite groups IIIE and IIIAB were originally separated based on differences in kamacite bandwidth, the presence of carbides only in the IIIE group, and marginally resolvable differences on the Ga‐Ni and Ge‐Ni diagrams. A total of six IIIE iron meteorites have been analyzed for C and N using secondary ion mass spectrometry, and three of these have also been analyzed for N, Ne, and Ar by stepped combustion. We show that these groups cannot be resolved on the basis of N abundances or isotopic compositions but that they are marginally different in C‐isotopic composition and nitride occurrence. Cosmic‐ray exposure age distributions of the IIIE and IIIAB iron meteorites seem to be significantly different. There is a significant N‐isotopic range among the IIIE iron meteorites. A negative correlation between δ15N and N concentration suggests that the increase in s?15N resulted from diffusional loss of N. |
