Timbuktu        16.7898, -3.0041

Gao, Mali

Find: 2015

Classification: Mesosiderite (group B4)

History: Found in 2015. Purchased in 2016 by KD Meteorites from Muhammad Sabai in Tucson who acquired from an anonymous finder in Mali. In 2015 an unusual rock was found by a resident of Timbuktu, Mali, near an old trade route north of town. He brought it home with him as an oddity. The rock was shown to Mohamed Sabai, who was visiting friends in Timbuktu, he recognized it as a meteorite, and purchased it from the finder.

Physical characteristics: Single mass with irregular, dark brown, oxidized patina. Saw cut slices reveal a matrix mixture of segregated orange-brown silicate and unoxidized metal with ~1-5 mm grain sizes, there are also scattered cm-sized green-yellow pyroxene xenocrysts, and cm-sized metal nodules. Minimal brecciation.

Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) Silicate matrix domains in this meteorite are approximately 85% low-Ca pyroxene and 15% plagioclase. Minor minerals include augite, chromite, merrillite, silica, schreibersite, and troilite. Kamacite is the dominant metal phase with lesser amounts of taenite present.

Geochemistry: (C. Agee and M. Spilde, UNM) Low Ca-pyroxene Fs_28.4±3.2Wo_2.8±0.9, Fe/Mn=29±3, n=11; plagioclase An_90.9±1.6, n=6.

Classification: Mesosiderite (B4), "B" based on plagioclase abundance, "4" based on low brecciation, and segregated mm-sized silicate and metal grains in matrix.

Specimens: Slices weighing 34, 54, and 104 g on deposit at UNM; KD Meteorites and M. Sabai hold the main mass.