Ocate                                                                                      36° 17.72' N, 105° 2.90' W

Mora County, New Mexico

Find: 1986

Iron (IAB-MG), coarse octahedrite

History:  This single 6.4 kg mass was found by a local New Mexico hunter in 1986.  Knowing it was different from the surrounding rocks and had an odd appearance (the face of a bear), the hunter took it home and set it aside with an odd assortment of 'collectibles' while hunting and mountaineering over decades in the New Mexico area.  The owner contacted G. Hupe in May 2008 for verification of the find, which was confirmed by study of the type sample at the University of Alberta.

Physical characteristics:  A single stone weighing 6402 grams with virtually no apparent fusion crust, yet also lacking progressed terrestrial alteration, which contributes towards its dark brown metallic appearance with well defined regmaglypts.

Petrography: (C. Herd, N. Bruemmer, UAb) A 5 x 7 cm polished and etched slab reveals Widmanstätten pattern with an average bandwidth of 1.4 ± 0.2 mm, few areas of plessite, and numerous inclusions.  A 1 cm ellipsoidal graphite nodule and several smaller inclusions of graphite, troilite and schreibersite are associated with polygonal kamacite on one portion of the slab. Smaller, mm-scale elongate inclusions of troilite are oriented parallel to kamacite lamellae where the Widmanstätten is better developed. Terrestrial oxides decorate fractures within a few mm of the exterior surface.

Geochemistry: Bulk Composition: INAA data (J. Duke, UAb): Ni = 6.99 ± 0.05 wt%, Co = 0.466 ± 0.004 wt%, Ga = 71.9 ± 0.3 μg/g, Ge = 271 ± 6 μg/g, Ir = 2.25 ± 0.04 μg/g, Au = 1.60 ± 0.03 μg/g, As = 15.2 ± 0.3 μg/g, Cu = 119 ± 11 μg/g, W = 0.87 ± 0.08 μg/g, Re = 0.22 ± 0.02 μg/g (uncertainties 1s, 68% confidence level).

Classification: Iron meteorite, IAB main group, coarse octahedrite, minimal shock, minimal weathering.

Type specimens: 97.58 g slab and a 3.2 g interior piece, UAb, main mass, G. Hupe.