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Thin Sections

715.2 grams. 100 x 60 x 55 mm.   Martian (nakhlite)

Fall not observed. Found 2003 in Antarctica.
Location Map of Antarctic Finds



AMN writes:

Macroscopic Description - Kathleen McBride

60% of the exterior is covered with black &ldquot;wrinkled&rdquot; appearing fusion crust. The areas without fusion crust are a black crystalline material with vugs. The binocular microscopic view of the exterior surface appears melted or fused together. The interior reveals a coarse grained, dark green to blackish crystalline matrix with a granular texture. This nakhlite is unbrecciated and homogeneous with interlocking grains and minor rust.

Thin Section Description (,2) - Tim McCoy, Cari Corrigan, Linda Welzenbach

The section is dominated by lathy to equant clinopyroxene that reaches 2 mm in maximum dimension. Mesostasis occupies approximately 20% of the rock and contains skeletal iron-titanium oxides. Clinopyroxenes have core compositions of Fs21Wo40 with rims reaching Fs49 Wo34. Olivine was not observed. The meteorite is a nakhlite. Its pyroxenes are compositionally similar to Lafayette, but it is richer in mesostasis and unusual for nakhlites in lacking olivine.

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