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PLNClassification: Ungrouped Achondrite W-moderate / S-high
Place/Time: 2024 in Gao, Mali
Mass: 514g
History: Three meteorite hunters from Western Sahara travelled from the Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, to the deserts of Mauritania and Mali. After a month and ten days of hunting, this meteorite was found on April 5, 2024, approximately 230 km southwest of Erg Atouila 001.
Physical characteristics: Exterior consists of orange/pink pale cream-colored, green and brown patches, fusion crust is absent.
Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) Microprobe examination shows this meteorite to be dominated by coarse-grained albitic feldspar poikilitically enclosing Cr-rich diopside, orthopyroxene, and olivine. Albite makes up approximately 60% of the modal abundance of this meteorite with diopside ~10%, orthopyroxene ~5%, and olivine ~15%. Phases with less than 1% modal abundance include K-feldspar, Fe-metal, and chromite.
Geochemistry: (M. Spilde, UNM) Albite Ab86.7±4.9Or5.7±1.6An7.6±6.2, n=6; diopside Fs6.5±0.6Wo42.5±0.7, Fe/Mn=10±1, Cr2O3 (wt%)=1.5±0.1, n=4; orthopyroxene Fs6.5±0.6Wo42.5±0.7, Fe/Mn=10±1; olivine Fa19.3±0.5, Fe/Mn=24±2, n=10.
Classification: Ungrouped achondrite (albite-rich). This meteorite has similarities with Erg Atouila 001.
Condition: one side polished, 12mm thin
This specimen is/was my largest (42.5g), but it had the best shape for cutting. It turned out that this material has more inclusions, and they are more fragile. The dark brown ones, in particular, are completely loose. That’s why most slices aren’t polished. It simply doesn’t do anything, and in fact, the surface looks worse than straight from a wire.
