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Fantastic New Chondrites, Achondrites, And Lunar Meteorites As The Result Of Recent Meteorite Search Expeditions In Hot And Cold Deserts

Earth, Moon, and Planets volume 85, pages 87–97 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

In the last 25 years thousands of new meteorites were recovered in the “cold deserts” of Antarctica and in the hot deserts of Australia, New Mexico, North Africa, and Oman. Based on the findings of many spectacular samples new meteorite classes could be defined. Considering the undifferentiated chondrites, the new class of the Rumuruti (R-) chondrites was established and the carbonaceous chondrites gained three more subgroups (CR-, CH-, and CK-chondrites). Also, among the achondrites new meteorite classes were defined inrecent years (angrites, brachinites, and the primitive achondrite classes of acapulcoites, winonaites, and lodranites). Certainly, the most spectacular discovery among the cold and hot desert meteorites was the recognition of the Lunar meteorites. In addition, the number of Martian meteorites has been significantly increased based on successful meteorite search.

Among the thousands of meteorite fragments mainly collected by American and Japanese expeditions in Antarctica the first lunar meteorite ALHA81005 was identified in 1982. ALHA81005 is a highland breccia like several other samples that were collected in Antarctica in the following years. The first lunar meteorite found outside Antarctica is Calcalong Creek (Australia), a small 19 g sample. In recent years several lunar meteorites were found in North Africa and Oman. The first lunar sample recovered from the northern hemisphere is Dar al Gani 262, a 513 g fragment found March 1997 in the Sahara. It was the 13th lunar meteorite. Since 1997 some more rocks from the Moon were collected: Dar al Gani 400, Yamato 981031, Dhofar 025, 026 and 071, and Northwest Africa 032 and 482. Dhofar 071 contains high abundance of once-molten fragments and interstitial fine-grained (devitrified) material.

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  1. Institut für Planetologie/ICEM, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 10, 48149, Münster, Germany.

    Addi Bischoff

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Bischoff, A. Fantastic New Chondrites, Achondrites, And Lunar Meteorites As The Result Of Recent Meteorite Search Expeditions In Hot And Cold Deserts. Earth, Moon, and Planets 85, 87–97 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017047311070

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017047311070

Keywords

  • Northern Hemisphere
  • High Abundance
  • Breccia
  • Oman
  • Carbonaceous Chondrite