Los Vientos 189 (LoV 189)        ~24°41’S, ~69°46’W

Antofagasta, Chile

Find: 2016 Mar

Classification: Iron meteorite (IID-an)

History: The stone was found lying on the surface in the Atacama desert in March 2016.

Physical characteristics: A single flat shield-shaped mass with dimensions ~55 × 39 × 14 cm. Outer surface is brownish and shows some Widmanstätten-like patterns. Cut surface reveals an unweathered metallic interior.

Petrography: (J. Gattacceca, H. Pourkhorsandi, CEREGE): The etched section shows well-developed Widmanstätten patterns with kamacite bandwith 800 to 1200 μm, making it a medium octahedrite. Kamacite displays abundant Neumann bands. Zoned taenite grains are present. Plessite is found as comb plessite, and dark etching plessite.

Geochemistry: (J.T. Wasson, UCLA): INAA data, Ni = 109, Co = 6.50 (both mg/g), Cu = 240, Ga = 61, As = 5.04, W=2.95, Re=1939, Ir =18.9, Pt=23.7 Au = 0.498 (all μg/g).

Classification: Iron, IID-an. The Au content of this iron is 13% lower than that of other classified IID iron meteorites and extend the chemical trends with the lowest Au content. On most element-Au diagrams the metal compositions plot near an extrapolation towards a lower Au content. Co and W plot near an extrapolation, Ga and Ir plot about 30% lower than the extrapolated values, and Ni plots about 10% higher than the extrapolation. The high Co and Ga values are the strongest indicators of a relationship to IID.

Specimens: 23 g and a polished section at CEREGE. 500 mg sample used for INAA at UCLA. Main mass with ArtMet Collection.