Caleta el Cobre 028 (CeC 028)        ~24°20’S, ~70°15’W

Antofagasta, Chile

Find: 2018 Dec

Classification: Enstatite chondrite (EL6)

History: Found in December 2018 in the Atacama desert.

Physical characteristics: Dark-brown stone with remnants of fusion crust. Many fragments found spread along a few meters downslope. The main fragment weighs 46 kg.

Petrography: (J. Gattacceca, CEREGE) Highly recrystallized texture with dominant enstatite (55 vol%, typical size 200 µm) and plagioclase (14 vol%, typical size 100 µm). Some enstatite crystals have lobate boundaries. Metal makes up about 30 vol% of the meteorite, sometimes as large cm sized lumps. Sulfides (troilite and Mn,Mg sulfides, up to 200 µm, abundance about 4 vol%) are found associated to metal, or as separate grains. Metal and sulfides are also found as µm-sized grains witin some silicates. No chondrule relict was observed.

Geochemistry: Enstatite Fs_0.6±0.3Wo_1.3±0.1 (n=5). Plagioclase An_15.7±0.2Ab_80.6±1.7Or_3.7±1.8 (n=5). Kamacite (wt%) Fe 91.2±1.3, Ni 5.7±1.1, Co 0.17±0.10, Si 1.62±0.18 (n=3). Mn,Mg sulfides (wt%) Fe 18.5±0.5, S 45.0±0.2, Mn 18.9±2.1, Mg 16.3±0.7, Ca 0.89±0.13, Cr 0.15±0.09 (n=3). Troilite Cr=0.58 wt%, Ti=0.53 wt%.

Classification: Enstatite chondrite EL6. Type 6 from the absence of relict chondrule. EL group from the Si content of metal. The meteorite is unusually metal-rich with about 30 vol% metal. This meteorite was found only 6 km from Caleta el Cobre 024 EL6 chondrite.

Specimens: Type specimen at CEREGE. Main mass with ArtMet.