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10.1 gram full slice. 50 x 30 x 3 mm.   Martian (shergottite) TKW 174.3 grams. Fall not observed. Reportedly found in 2021 by a shepherd from the village of Hasi Monir at a location 45 km WNW of Oum El Assel, Algeria.


 

Scott writes:

Not everyone will agree, but I find most Martian meteorites to be unremarkable and even boring in appearance, especially the rare and expensive ones! I set out on a quest to find the "most beautiful" Martian slice and my leading candidates have been NWA 13366, NWA 10961, and Plateau du Tademait 008, all shergottites.

In Tucson this year, in Sean Mahoney’s shop, I saw slices of Smeïra 003, about ten grams each, all with bright, cream-colored inclusions. Plateau du Tademait 008 has distinctive light spots of brown olivine, but these were dramatically brighter, and definitely not olivine. Curiously, these were not mentioned in the MetBull write-up, but I figured it wouldn’t be the first time that a classification sample wasn’t representative of the rest of the stone.

What exactly are these bright inclusions? You can see 30X close-ups of the inclusions in pics 2-4. Talking with a number of people, I heard two theories — one that they were due to terrestrial mineral deposits, and another that they were formed while on Mars or on the trip here.

I wondered if the spots might be fluorescent, and with the help of a 365nm flashlight found that indeed they are brightly so (see pic #5). To my surprise, as I moved the UV flashlight away from the slice, the spots continued to glow for a bit—they are also phosphorescent-- see the short video!

Several people in Tucson observed that the inclusions were present in melt pockets within a reasonably intact stone, and so that reduced the likelihood of terrestrial water and mineral intrusion. Others said that they looked like terrestrial deposits seen in other more weathered meteorites and so that was the likely explanation. Carl Agee, who did the original classification, was kind enough to take another look, and felt it was indeed terrestrial minerals that had filled vugs or vesicles present in the material, and so that’s probably the answer. Some further lab studies are in progress by an advocate of the non-terrestrial theory, and so there may be additional data forthcoming.

Terrestrial mineralization may disqualify Smeïra 003 from my beauty contest, but I like this spotted shergottite, and with the filled vugs and vesicles it is certainly a candidate for the "most interesting" shergottite.

Photos copyright Scott McGregor and may be used with attribution.