Chondritic meteorites are among the first solid materials to form in the early Solar System. It is commonly thought they delivered Earth's volatile elements based on analysis of the isotopes they contain. However, the abundances of C, N and H in what scientists call the "bulk silicate Earth" or "BSE" (which includes the atmosphere, oceans, crust, and mantle) are significantly different from their abundances in chondrites; in addition to their simply being relatively less of these particular elements in the BSE, there is also a notable lack of nitrogen. Due to these discrepancies, the origin of Earth's major volatile elements remains mysterious, and previous studies have proposed non-chondritic, differentiated meteorites or asteroids might have delivered them.
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