Name: Elephant Moraine 99430 This is an OFFICIAL meteorite name. Abbreviation: EET 99430 Observed fall: No Year found: 1999 Country: Antarctica [Collected by US Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET)] Mass: 27.1 g
Macroscopic Description: Kathleen McBride
The entire exterior surface of this carbonaceous chondrite is covered with thick black fusion crust with polygonal fractures. The interior is black, earthy material with a sulfurous odor. This meteorite has an oxidation rind and rust halos.
Thin Section (, 4) Description: Tim McCoy and Linda Welzenbach
Plane-Polarized Light
Cross-Polarized Light
The section consists of large (up to 2 mm), well-defined chondrules in a matrix of finer-grained silicates, sulfides and abundant magnetite. The meteorite is extensively shocked and brecciated. Olivine is relatively homogeneous Fa30-33. In this section, we observed a 1.5 by 2 mm CAI consisting of anorthite, fassaite and pleonaste spinel. A very unusual feature of this meteorite is the presence of FeO-rich phyllosilicates, which occur as veins and patches. The phyllosilicates also appear to cross cut the brecciated texture and are sometimes associated with magnetite. The origin of these phyllosilicates (terrestrial vs. extraterrestrial; timing relative to metamorphism and brecciation) is uncertain. The meteorite is a CK4 chondrite. However, phyllosilicates have not been previously reported in CK chondrites and large CAIs are very rare. This specimen is clearly very unusual.
27.1 g
