Northwest Africa 11010 (NWA 11010)

Northwest Africa

Purchased: 2016

Classification: Iron meteorite (ungrouped)

History: One piece weighing 832.4 g was found in the Sahara and was subsequently purchased in Morocco in 2015. J. Donald Cline and John Sinclair acquired the sample from a meteorite dealer at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in February of 2016.

Physical characteristics: Sample has a tabular, irregular shape with a few broad, shallow regmaglypts, halite deposits and oxidized spots.

Petrography: (A. Love, App) Cut and etched face shows plessitic structure similar to NWA 859, where plates of kamacite are segregated by plessite fields. Mean kamacite bandwidth 53µm (n=62). No troilite or dormation or reheating features were observed.

Geochemistry: Bulk Composition: (J.T. Wasson, UCLA): (INAA): 12.8 mg/g Co, 160.7 mg/g Ni; 11 µg/g Cr, 245 µg/g Cu, 87.5 µg/g Ga, 2666 µg/g Ge, 53 µg/g As, 7.0 µg/g W, 2.5 µg/g W, 41 µg/g Pt, 6.54 µg/g Au; 326 ng/g Sb, 349 ng/g Re. This composition is closely similar to that of NWA 859, synonym Taza, published by Wasson (2011).

Classification: Structural class, plessitic octahedrite. Compositional class is ungrouped, and possible based on high contents of volatile elements, IAB-ungrouped. The "Taza" irons are closely similar to Butler, but otherwise have no close compositional relatives.

Specimens: Pari holds the 711.6 g main mass. 47.7 g (two slices), UCLA