Hambleton                                           54°14′25′′N, 1°11′56′′W

Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom

Find: August 2005

Pallasite (main group)

History: A mass was found beside a forest track by R. and I. Elliott while they were hunting for meteorites, ~2 km south of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England.

Physical characteristics: One 17.6 kg piece was found. It has a highly weathered exterior with centimeter-size patches of blue weathering products. No fusion crust is present.

Petrography and mineral compositions: (D. Johnson and M. M. Grady, OU; R. Hutchison and C. Kirk, NHM) The meteorite is brittle and easily fragments. It contains ~60 vol% olivine (Fo_88.3), ~25 vol% metal, and ~15 vol% sulfide (all irregularly distributed). Olivine ranges in size from ~10 mm in fractured, rounded grains that form mosaics in olivine-rich regions, to angular fragments <0.1 mm set in metal or sulfide where these opaques are dominant. The olivine mosaics have metal and/or sulfide veins along grain boundaries or filling fractures. Metal is largely kamacite, commonly as plessitic intergrowths with taenite, which also forms thin rims with Ni <60 wt%. Sulfides are abnormally abundant for a pallasite and some regions (<5 cm across) are composed almost exclusively of troilite, enclosing minor fragmented olivines. Within olivine and metal, sulfides occur as veins, commonly with Ni-poor centers and Ni-rich rims. Chromite and schreibersite are accessory phases. The outer 1 cm of the mass is terrestrially weathered, with veins of Fe-oxides and patches of a blue phosphate mineral.

Geochemistry: Oxygen isotopic: (I. A. Franchi, PSSRI, OU) δ¹⁷O = +1.383, δ¹⁸O = +3.029, Δ¹⁷O = −0.187 (all ‰).

Classification: Pallasite (main group).

Type specimen: A 1 kg type specimen, 3 slices, and 1 thin section are on deposit at OU. R. Elliott of Fernlea holds the main mass.