TKW 393.4 grams. Fall not observed. Found 2012 near Bourdime, Morocco.
Pallasite – PES
Ruben writes:
This exciting new pallasite will be submitted for classification this week. I'm planning to begin selling specimens as soon as it's sent to Nom-Com for approval - probably Thursday or Friday.
Weathering: medium
Fa: 21.2 ±0.2
Classifier: L. Garvie, J. Wasson, K. Ziegler, H. Chennaoui Aoudjehane
Type spec mass: 116.7
Type spec loc: ASU
Main mass: ASU
Finder: Brahim Oubadi
Writeup history:
(H. Chennaoui Aoudjehane, FSAC): During November 2007, Brahim Oubadi from Bouanane (south east Morocco, near Boudnib) was searching for meteorites near Oued Bourdim. He found many small pieces of a heavy rock (for its size) that looked different from the surrounding materials around 32° 00’ 21.1”N and 3° 14’ 15.6” W. Over the next few years Mr. Oubadi found approximately 400 g. He sold the stones to a meteorite dealer in Boudnib, and they were subsequently sold at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show where they were nicknamed “Boudnib”. The meteorites were found on an old desert-varnish-covered wadi called Oued Bourdim.
Writeup physical:
Many small stones totaling 393 g: the largest are 48.9 g and 68.9 g, whereas the majority is <10 g in mass. Exterior of the stones is dark colored and the olivines are sand blasted with a waxy luster. Fusion crust largely absent, though there are a few remaining patches on the metal. Medium to low weathering.
Writeup petrog:
(L. Garvie, ASU). A 3 x 2 cm sawn surface of the 48.9 g stone shows 30 areal% metal. Olivine grains highly fractured, rounded and <1 cm across. Swathing kamacite to 1-mm thick and discontinuous. There are a few areas of swathing schreibersite to 0.5 mm thick. Ropey schreibersite also present within the swathing kamacite. Troilite rare, occurring as spheres to 1 mm in the olivine. The bulk of the metal has a martensite decomposition structure (Novotny et al., 1982), composed of Widmanstätten alpha platelets (typically <100 um long) in fine plessite matrix: schreibersite 10 to 50 um is common. The platelets are surrounded by taenite rims. Two chromite grains present. Excluding the 48.9 g stone, six additional stones were sectioned, polished, and etched – all showed metal with the martensite decomposition structure. Terrestrial Fe oxides locally replacing swathing kamacite and troilite. Reference: Novotny, P.M., Goldstein, J.I., and Williams, D.B. (1982) Analytical electron microscope study of eight ataxites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 46, 2461-2469.
Writeup geochem:
(J. Wasson, UCLA): Metal composition by INAA (mean of two analyses) Ni 170.3 mg/g; Co 9.1 mg/g, Ga 8.1 ug/g, As 12.8 ug/g, Ir 5.98 ug/g, W 0.36 ug/g, Pt 17 ug/g, and Au 1.34 ug/g. (L. Garvie, ASU): EMPA of eight separate olivine grains give Fa21.2±0.2, FeO/MnO=99.9±9.0. (K. Ziegler, UNM): Analyses of 5 acid-washed olivine subsamples by laser fluorination dual inlet mass spectrometry gave, respectively, d17O -6.02, -5.98, -5.82, -6.04, -6.48; d18O -2.17, -2.19, -1.85, -2.15, -2.98; D17O -4.88, -4.83, -4.85, -4.91, -4.91 per mil (reference TFL slope = 0.528, values are linearized).
Specimens: ASU 116.7 g, Ruben Garcia 158.8 g, and Bob Cuchiara 68.9 g.
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