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| Rafsa 001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Basic information | Name: Rafsa 001 This is an OFFICIAL meteorite name. Abbreviation: There is no official abbreviation for this meteorite. Observed fall: No Year found: 2019 Country: Algeria Mass:  127.6 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification history: |
This is 1 of 289 approved meteorites (plus 2 unapproved names) classified as Martian (shergottite). [show all] Search for other: Martian meteorites | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Comments: | Approved 9 Feb 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Writeup |
Writeup from MB 109:
Rafsa 001 28.736°N, 7.607°W Tindouf, Algeria Find: 2019 Feb Classification: Martian meteorite (Shergottite) History: A 70.9 g stone was found by a group of camel herders near Bou Akba in northwestern Algeria in February 2019. Some time later they found an identical-appearing 56.7 g stone about 700 m from the first one. In September 2019, both stones were purchased by Ben Hoefnagels through an American agent for the finders. Physical characteristics: Both stones lack fusion crust and have weathered exteriors. Saw cuts reveal that both have thin weathering rinds, but the fresh interiors exhibit dark olivine phenocrysts in a fine-grained lighter-colored groundmass and sparse dark melt pockets containing vesicles (some partly filled with secondary terrestrial minerals). Petrography: (A. Irving, UWS and P. Carpenter, WUSL) Euhedral to subhedral, zoned olivine phenocrysts (up to 2mm; with interior regions of orange-brown staining) are set in a groundmass composed mainly of polysynthetically-twinned, prismatic clinopyroxene and maskelynite with accessory orthopyroxene (as cores to some groundmass pyroxene grains), merrillite, Ti-chromite, Ti-free chromite, ilmenite, pyrrhotite and pentlandite. Sparse dark shock melt pockets (with swirly texture and secondary calcite in vesicular cavities) are present. Geochemistry: Olivine (cores Fa28.8-30.4, FeO/MnO = 47-54, N = 5; rims Fa32.4-35.2, FeO/MnO = 50-54, N = 5), orthopyroxene core (Fs21.8Wo3.8, FeO/MnO = 29), pigeonite (cores Fs23.7-23.9Wo8.6-10.4, FeO/MnO = 28-30, N = 4; rims Fs27.6-30.7Wo9.0-10.3, FeO/MnO = 25-32, N = 4), high-Ca pyroxene (Fs16.8-17.6Wo36.1-30.5, FeO/MnO = 25-29, N = 3), maskelynite (An62.6-64.9Or0.3-0.5, N = 3). Classification: Shergottite (olivine-phyric). Specimens: 21 g including one polished thin section at UWB; remainder with Mr. B. Hoefnagels. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Data from: MB109 Table 0 Line 0: |
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| Institutions and collections |
UWS: University of Washington, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, 70 Johnson Hall, Seattle, WA 98195, United States (institutional address; updated 15 Jan 2012) WUSL: Washington Univ., One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States (institutional address; updated 17 Oct 2011) UWB: University of Washington, Box 353010 Seattle, WA 98195, United States (institutional address; updated 27 Jul 2012) |
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| References: | Published in Meteoritical Bulletin, no. 109, in preparation (2020)
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Geography:
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Statistics: This is 1 of 50 approved meteorites from Tindouf, Algeria (plus 1 impact crater) This is 1 of 1270 approved meteorites from Algeria (plus 29 unapproved names) (plus 4 impact craters) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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