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Gove | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Basic information | Name: Gove This is an official name for a relict meteorite. Relict meteorites are composed mostly of terrestrial minerals, but are thought to have once been meteorites. Note: evidence that this was once a meteorite may not have been critically evaluated. Abbreviation: There is no official abbreviation for this meteorite. Observed fall: No Year found: 1979 Country: Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classification history: |
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Comments: | Entered 14 Dec 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Writeup![]() |
Writeup from MB 99:
Gove 12°15.8’S, 136°50.3’E Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia Found: 24 February 1979 Classification: Relict meteorite (Relict iron) History: A deeply oxidized mass of "fossil" iron meteorite was excavated from bauxite at an open cut mine on the Gove Peninsula. Physical characteristics: The original mass is reported to have measured 0.75 to 1 m in diameter and is of unknown weight. On removal from the bauxite, the meteorite was described as being encased in a sheath of iron oxides. Petrography: The meteorite is almost completely altered to oxides and oxyhydroxides of iron and nickel. Polished sections of competent fragments retain a relict Widmanstätten pattern (approximate bandwidth 0.5 mm) preserved in iron oxides. In the microstructure there are vestiges of former structures (plessite fields) now preserved in iron oxides, and small relict grains of primary minerals such as taenite (27 wt% Ni) and daubreélite. Secondary minerals as the result of weathering include awaruite. Geochemistry: An analysis at the mine site laboratory by company chemist D. H. Harper gave 8.5 wt% Ni. Modern analysis (J.T. Wasson UCLA; INAA, single analysis) of oxidized material gave Ni = 32.9, Co = 3.67 (both mg/g), Cr = 168, Cu = 195, Ga = 22.5, Ge = <70, As = 4.16, W = 1.35, Ir = 10.5, Pt = 21.2, Au = 0.672 (all μg/g), Sb = <150, Re = 844 (both ng/g). Classification: Iron (chemical group unknown, fine octahedrite; possibly group IVA or IIIAB). Specimens: Main mass (immersed in kerosene) at Geoscience Australia, Canberra. Fragment measuring 23x15x10 cm at the Alcan Gove Pty mine site, Northern Territory. 1164.8 g of fragments at WAM. 590 g of fragments at the Northern Territory Museum, Darwin. Analyzed sample at UCLA. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Data from: MB99 Table 0 Line 0: |
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Institutions and collections |
UCLA: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567, United States (institutional address; updated 17 Oct 2011) WAM: Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Western Australian Museum. Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, Western Australia 6986, Australia; Website (institutional address; updated 18 Oct 2011) |
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Catalogs: |
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References: | Published in Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 99, April 2012, MAPS 47, E1-E52 (2012) [published online only]
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