Revealing the relationship between <scp>2‐D</scp> and <scp>3‐D</scp> chondrule size–frequency distribution in a meteorite

Abstract Chondrule size–frequency distributions provide important information to understand the origin of chondrules. Size–frequency distributions are often obtained as apparent 2‐D size–frequency distributions in thin sections, as determining a 3‐D size–frequency distribution is notoriously difficult. The relationship between a 2‐D size–frequency distribution and its corresponding 3‐D size–frequency distribution has been previously modeled; however, the results contradict measured results. Models so far predict a higher mean of the 2‐D size–frequency distribution than the corresponding mean of the 3‐D size–frequency distribution, while the measurements of real chondrule populations show the opposite. Here, we use a new model approach that agrees with these measurements and at the same time offers a solution, why models so far predicted the opposite. Our new model provides a tool with which the 3‐D chondrule size–frequency distribution can be determined from the fit of a measured 2‐D chondrule size–frequency distribution.