The name comes from their (H)igh iron abundance, with respect to
other ordinary chondrites, which is about 25-31% by weight. Over
half of this is present in a free state, making these meteorites
strongly magnetic despite the stony chondritic appearance. A
probable parent body for this group is the S-type asteroid 6
Hebe, with less likely candidates being 3 Juno and 7 Iris. It is
supposed that these meteorites arise from impacts onto small
near-earth asteroids broken off from 6 Hebe in the past, rather
than originating from 6 Hebe directly. The H chondrites have
very similar trace element abundances and Oxygen isotope ratios
to the IIE iron meteorites, making it likely that they both
originate from the same parent body. The most abundant minerals
are bronzite (an orthopyroxene), and olivine. Characteristic is
the fayalite (Fa) content of the olivine of 16 to 20 mol%. They
contain also 15-19% of nickel-iron metal and about 5% of
troilite. The majority of these meteorites have been
significantly metamorphosed, w