The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 88, 2004 July
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Meteoritics & Planetary Science 39, Nr 8, Supplement, A215–A272 (2004) Abstract available online at http://meteoritics.org The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 88, 2004 July Sara S. RUSSELL,1* Luigi FOLCO,2 Monica M. GRADY,1 Michael E. ZOLENSKY,3 Rhian JONES,4 Kevin RIGHTER,3 Jutta ZIPFEL,5 and Jeffrey N. GROSSMAN6 1Department of Mineralogy, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK 2Museo Nazionale Antartide, Via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy 3Code ST, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas 77058, USA 4Institute of Meteoritics, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA 5Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Postfach 3060, D-55020 Mainz, Germany 6U.S. Geological Survey, MS 954, Reston, Virginia 20192, USA *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] For supplemental maps and photographs, visit the Meteoritical Bulletin’s Web site at http://www.meteoriticalsociety.org (Received 9 June 2004) Abstract–The Meteoritical Bulletin No. 88 lists information for 1610 newly classified meteorites, comprising 753 from Antarctica, 302 from Africa, 505 from Asia (495 of which are from Oman), 40 from North America, 5 from South America, 4 from Europe, and 1 of unknown origin. Information is provided for 9 falls (Alby sur Chéran, Al Zarnkh, Devgaon, Kamioka, Kendrapara, Maromandia, New Orleans, Sivas, and Villalbeto de la Peña). Noteworthy specimens include a eucrite fall (Alby sur Chéran), 6 martian meteorites, 13 lunar meteorites, and 12 irons including one weighing 3 metric tons (Dronino). INTRODUCTION African meteorite finds (14 meteorites) The Meteoritical Bulletin is a compilation of Table 1 reports 14 meteorites from various locations in Africa. announcements by the Meteoritical Society’s Meteorite See also Northwest Africa, Saharan meteorites from Algeria, Nomenclature Committee of newly described and classified and Saharan meteorites from Libya. meteorites. Several conventions are followed in this document. Shock classifications conform to the scheme of Alby sur Chéran 45°49.28′N, 6°0.92′E Stöffler et al. (1991). The scale of Wlotzka (1993) is used to Haute Savoie, France describe weathering grades, except as noted. For chondrite Fell 2002 February groups, petrologic types, shock stages, and weathering Achondrite (monomict basaltic eucrite) grades, slashes (e.g., H5/6) indicate transitional assignments. A 252 g stone with black shiny fusion crust was found on Hyphens in petrologic type assignments for chondrites (e.g., March 22 in the roof of a building, in a hole in the insulating H5–6) indicate the range of types observed in breccias. Group material. Water was first observed leaking from the ceiling names such as “L(LL)” indicate uncertain assignments, with inside the building at 8:30 a.m. on March 18, 2002. The stone the less probable group in parentheses. The word had broken into 2 fragments (238.9 g and 13 g) upon impact. “ungrouped” indicates that a meteorite can not be fit into Taking into account the local amount of rainfall in the existing classification schemes. The word “anomalous” is previous days, the absorption of water by the porous used if a meteorite can be assigned to an established class but insulating material, and the distance between the hole in the differs from other members of that class in a significant way. roof and the leak in the ceiling leads to an estimate that the fall All italicized abbreviations refer to addresses tabulated at the took place between February 3 and February 14. Mineralogy end of this document. and classification (M. Bourot-Denise, MNHNP): low-Ca pyroxene En36Wo3 with lamellae of high-Ca pyroxene En Wo , and laths of plagioclase An ; consists of clasts NEWLY DESCRIBED METEORITES 29.5 42.5 90 with pyroxene grain size about 100–200 µm, in a matrix of the same texture and composition but smaller grain size (~50– Acfer 325–363, see Saharan meteorites from Algeria 100 µm). Minor phases include chromite (0.3% MgO, 8% A215 © Meteoritical Society, 2004. Printed in USA. A216 S. S. Russell et al. Al2O3, 2.6% TiO2, 0.6% MnO), ilmenite (0.4% MgO, 1% Araslanovo 55°08.5′N, 48°12′E MnO), silica, iron sulfide, and Fe-Ni metal. Specimens: type Tatarstan, Russia specimen, 130 g, MNHNP; rest of the mass with finder. Found 1973 (?) Ordinary chondrite (L/LL5) Al Zarnkh 13°39.62′N, 28°57.60′E A brownish stone weighing 132 kg was found by Vladimir Barah, Northern Kordofan, Sudan Tikhonov while ploughing a field near the village of Fell 2001 February 8 Araslanovo approximately 30 years ago. In 2003, he sent a Ordinary chondrite (LL5) piece of the stone to the Vernadsky Institute for identification. A meteorite was seen to fall on February 8, 2001 by the Classification and mineralogy (S. Teplyakova, M. Ivanova, villagers of Al Zarnkh, about 150 km west of Barah, in the Vernad): olivine, Fa26.2 PMD 4%, and pyroxene, Fs22.4Wo1.4, western region of Sudan. A fusion-crusted mass of 700 g was compositions are intermediate between those in L and LL then recovered by geologist Dr. Salah Bashir. Mineralogy and chondrites, kamacite (Ni 4.8–6.6 wt%, Co 0.6–1.0 wt%) and classification (Abbasher M. Gismelseed, Sultan Qaboos): taenite (Ni 35–47 wt%, Co 0.1–0.3 wt%) are present; some LL5, Fa28, Fs23. Specimens: type specimens, 20 and 75 g, troilite grains contain Cu (up to 2 wt%), shock stage S4, Sultan Qaboos; main mass: Salah Bashir, Faculty of Science, weathering grade W1. Specimens: type specimen 700 g and a Department of Geology, Khartoum University, Sudan. thin section, Vernad; main mass with anonymous owner. Antarctic ANSMET meteorite finds Bensour ~30°N, 7°W (720 meteorites) Morocco/Algeria Antarctica Found, possible fall, 2002 February 11 Found 2000–2002 Ordinary chondrite (LL6) Appendix 1 brings the list of officially announced meteorites Eyewitness accounts from several nomads in the border from the U.S. Antarctic Meteorite Program up-to-date. Some region of Morocco and Algeria attest to a significant fall of 10,916 ANSMET meteorites have been listed in previous many individual stones on February 11, 2002. However, these editions of the Meteoritical Bulletin; these meteorites bring reports are not detailed. Total weight is estimated to be in the total to 11,636. Listed are the classifications, masses, excess of 45 kg. Individual stones (up to 9.2 kg) are very pale degrees of weathering, olivine and pyroxene compositions, grey with a glistening black fusion crust. Classification and pairing information, ice fields upon which the meteorites mineralogy (A. Irving and S. Kuehner, UWS): very fine- were found, and bibliographic information, all sorted by grained monomict breccia composed of olivine (Fa31.6, FeO/ sample name. Meteorites were recovered from MacAlpine MnO = 60.0), orthopyroxene (Wo3.5Fs24.3, FeO/MnO = 36.6), Hills (MAC), Meteorite Hills (MET), Alexandra Range clinopyroxene, and sodic plagioclase with subordinate Ni- (QUE), La Paz icefield (LAP), Pecora Escarpment (PCA), rich Fe-Ni metal, troilite, and chromite. Sparse chondrules are and O’Dell Glacier (ODE). The meteorites in Appendix 1 present. Oxygen isotopes (D. Rumble, CIW): analyses of two were published in the Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter (AMN) whole rock fragments by laser fluorination gave δ18O = +5.3 issues 26(2) (2003) and 27(1) (2004). Brief descriptions of ± 0.1, δ17O = +4.0 ± 0.1, ∆17O = +1.20 ± 0.01‰. Specimens: meteorites other than equilibrated ordinary chondrites are type specimen, 20 g, and one polished thin section, UWS; 1.5 published in AMN. Note that meteorite pairings may be kg, Hupé, main mass, 9.2 kg, Farmer. tentative. Cheder 51°32′N, 94°36′E Antarctic PNRA meteorite finds Tuva, Russian Federation (33 meteorites) Found 2003 October 26 Antarctica Iron IIIAB (medium octahedrite) Found 2003–2004 A fresh iron piece weighing 5.39 kg was found during field Table 2 reports the classification of 33 of the 125 meteorite work by Valery Popov, a geologist of the Institute of Complex fragments recovered from northern Victoria Land by the Exploration of Natural Resources, Kyzyl, Tuva. The Italian Programma Nazionale delle Ricerche in Antartide meteorite was recovered on a deflated surface of aeolian (PNRA) between 2003 December and 2004 January. Table 2 sands. It is 26 × 9 × 8 cm in size and has a thin fusion crust and lists 3 meteorites found at Miller Butte, 1 at Roberts Butte, regmaglypts. Classification and mineralogy (L. V. Agafonov, 19 at Johannessen Nunataks, 1 at Mount Walton, 1 at Mount L. N. Pospelova, Novosibirsk): Kamacite (5.5–6.8 wt% Ni) DeWitt, and 8 of the 100 specimens returned from Frontier and taenite (22–38 wt% Ni) form the Widmanstätten pattern Mountain. Mineralogy and classification by A. Burroni and with 1–1.5 mm kamacite bands; schreibersite (22–48 wt% Ni) L. Folco (MNA-SI), N. Perchiazzi and M. D’Orazio (Pisa is present. INAA data (A. Lorenz, Vernad): Ni 72.4, Co 4.4 University), and P. Rochette (CEREGE). Specimens: main (mg/g), As 3.26, Ir 16.9, Au 0.50 (µg/g) indicate the IIIA mass, type specimens, and thin sections at MNA-SI. group. Specimens: 200 g, Institute of Complex Exploration of Meteoritical Bulletin No. 88 A217 Natural Resources, Kyzyl, Tuva; 100 g, Novosibirsk; main inclusions and small chromites; pyroxenes are dominantly mass and type specimen, Vernad. chemically zoned pigeonites, some contain orthopyroxene cores; olivine phenocrysts, Fa31.4−41.1, Fe/Mn = 52–59; Dar al Gani 969–1038, see Saharan meteorites from Libya matrix olivine, Fa37.4−40.6, Fe/Mn = 52–58; pigeonite, Fs23.7– 35.4Wo6–18.6; orthopyroxene, Fs20.2−24.5Wo2.5−4.7, Fe/Mn = 34; Dar al Gani 1030 27°13.30′N, 16°15.00′E maskelynite, An58.9−65.5; heavily shocked with numerous Libya melt veins and melt pockets; moderately weathered with Found 1998 December 27 calcites filling cracks and cavities.