Northwest Africa 10106 (NWA 10106)

Morocco

Purchased: 2013

Classification: Ordinary chondrite (H5)

History: Dean Bessey purchased the meteorite in Erfound, Morocco. It was acquired by Michael Zielinski and brought to CWRU in 2013.

Physical characteristics: The full specimen was completely covered in a dark brown fusion crust. It is bulbous and approximately fist sized. Abundant metal can be seen in the cut section along with rare metal nodules that reach mm size. Chondrules are not well defined in the cut face. The section sample has a total mass of 228.8 g.

Petrography: In plane polarized light the meteorite is seen to consist of approximately 50% chondrules, 16% metal grains, 5% sulfide grains, with the remainder being a dark orange, rusty groundmass. Chondrules range in size from 0.2 mm to about 1.2 mm in diameter, although there is a small population of chondrules around the 0.1 mm size. The chondrules range in type from barred olivine, bladed pyroxene and poikilitic clastic. Metal grains range in size from 0.2 to 6 mm and sulfide grains are small, around 0.2 mm.

Geochemistry: Chondrules are primarily composed of olivine and pyroxene grains with rare areas of feldspathic glass. Olivine grains are Fa_18.2 and pyroxene grains are Fs_16.7. The metal nodules are primarily kamacite with a few zones of taenite. Laser ablation ICP-MS shows that the metal nodules are depleted in the siderophile elements, notably Re, Os, Ir, Ru, Pt, and Rh.

Specimens: A type specimen of 22.9 g is kept at CMNH. The main mass and a mm thick slab are in the possession of Michael Zielinski.