Name: Elephant Moraine 96009 This is an OFFICIAL meteorite name. Abbreviation: EET 96009 Observed fall: No Year found: 1996 Country: Antarctica [Collected by US Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET)] Mass: 40 g
Macroscopic Description: Kathleen McBride, Roy S. Clarke, Jr., and Tim McCoy The specimen is a roughly triangular fragment measuring 3 cm across the base and 3.5 cm high. It is deeply weathered to a reddish brown color and highly fractured, with open fractures extending into the specimen. One surface is relatively smooth, probably the original surface of the meteorite, while the others are highly irregular and suggest spalling of this specimen from a larger mass.
Thin Section (, 2) Description: Tim McCoy The section is composed largely of iron-nickel metal with interspersed silicate grains of up to 0.5 mm as isolated grains and clusters. The metallic host is composed of kamacite with large amounts of plessite, which includes clear taenite borders and comparatively large areas of martensite. The silicates include olivine (Fa5), orthopyroxene (Fs7-10Wo1-2), clinopyroxene (Fs3Wo46) and feldspar (Ab90-97) and these are intergrown with abundant troilite and graphite and are rimmed by large schreibersite grains. Weathering is pervasive and the section is cross cut by large weathering veins. The meteorite is an iron with silicate inclusions and is probably a silicate-bearing, low-Ni IAB iron similar in composition to, e.g., Landes. Pairing with EET 87504/505/506 is possible.