DISCOVERY OF THE MOUNT BALDR, ANTARCTICA, STONY METEORITE

Name: MOUNT BALDR

Place of find: West of Mt. Baldr, upper Wright Valley, Victoria Land, Antarctica.

77° 35'2"S., 160° 19'35"E.

Date of find: December 15, 1976.

Class and type: Stone. Olivine-bronzite chondrite (H6).

Number of individual

specimens: 2

Total weight: 17.89 kg

Circumstances of find: Two stones were found by the U.S.-Japan Joint Expedition to Antarctica during the 1976-1977 season, on blue ice. They weighed 13.782 kg and 4.108 kg respectively and were found 700 m apart.

Source: W.A. Cassidy et al., 1977. Antarctica: a deep-freeze storehouse for meteorites. Science 198, 727-731.

Note: The smaller stone was also referred to as Mount Baldr No. 1, Mount Baldr (a), and the larger stone as Mount Baldr No. 2, Mount Baldr (b). These are synonymous, H.W. Weber and L. Schultz, 1978. Meteoritics 13, abstr.

See also: K. Yanai, 1978. First meteorites found in Victoria Land, Antarctica, December 1976 and January 1977. Mem. Nat. Inst. Polar Res., Special Issue No. 8, 51-69, and E. Olsen et al., 1978. Eleven new meteorites from Antarctica, 1976-1977. Meteoritics 13, 209-225.

Sample No.: MBRA76001

Location: Mt. Baldr

Field No.:

Weight (gms): 1096.0 -

Meteorite Type: H6 Chondrite

Physical Description:

The stone is covered with a reddish-brown fusion crust (<.5 mm) on two surfaces. Two surfaces are reddish-brown fracture surfaces, and two surfaces are cut. The fusion crust is pitted with numerous tiny holes. Several fractures penetrate the meteorite and iron oxide staining is present along some of these fractures. The matrix material is light gray. Approximate dimensions: 10.7 x 5.6 x 7.4 cm.

Petrographic Description:

This meteorite has been described in Olsen, et al., 1978, as Mt. Baldr a.