[meteorite-list] NWA 773 lunar pairings

[Jeff Grossman]

NomCom rules have absolutely no bearing on pairings like this.  After 
all, such publications do nothing to change the names of the 
specimens.  What this allows you to do is talk about the "NWA 773 
pairing group" to mean the whole collection, preferably after citing 
the source for doing so.  However it does NOT allow you to call NWA 
2700 by the name NWA 773.  All the specimens retain their original 
names and numbers.

There is also no such thing as a list of "official" 
pairings.  MetBase tabulates them from the literature, but this does 
not put any kind of stamp-of-approval on the pairings or cause them 
to become official.  "Officialness," if there is such a thing, comes 
from publication, reproducibility, and, perhaps ultimately, 
widespread acceptance by the scientific community.

This said, there are actually two "official" actions that are 
possible with some pairings:

1) If the meteorites came from a non-dense collection area (without 
numbers in their names), it would also be possible to ask the NomCom 
to abolish one of the names as an official action.  But this is 
specifically prohibited for NWA or other numbered meteorites.  If two 
meteorites are found close together, compared in detail to each 
other, and shown to be part of the same fall beyond any reasonable 
doubt, the NomCom could agree to abolish one names.  This would be 
announced in the Meteoritical Bulletin. It is a rare event.  The 
Gao-Guenie consolidation under this single name was such a case.

2) One other technicality that could apply to this situation concerns 
type specimens for future finds belonging to the pairing group, 
although this only applies for meteorites with well-documented 
locations, never NWAs.  If they were Dhofars, for example, it might 
be possible to lower the type specimen requirement for a new find if 
there was very strong evidence that it was paired with others.  But 
even in this case, the new meteorite would get its own number.  Such 
pairings are announced in the Bulletin as well.  Only one pairing 
group has ever been published (see the Dho 026 entry 
http://tin.er.usgs.gov/meteor/index.php?code=6725), although another 
will soon be announced.

Jeff


At 03:23 PM 7/31/2006, David Weir wrote:
>List,
>
>Well, the results are in - in the MetSoc 69th Annual Meeting 
>abstract #5235 that is... and just as I had suspected, NWA 773 has 
>many brothers and sisters: NWA 2700 (previously with Boswell), 2727 
>(Oakes et al.), 2977 (Farmer), 3160 (Hupe), and 3333 (Kuntz) are all 
>considered to be paired by the eminent scientists Zeigler, Korotev, 
>Jolliff, Bunch, and Irving. Of course, I'm not sure the NomCom rules 
>allow such an official  pairing with NWA 773 after the fact, 
>especially with no reliable geographic coordinates. But then a 
>future peer-reviewed journal publication could make it officially 
>"official" I believe. No matter, the abstract is more than 
>convincing if your own eyes have ever cast doubt on their pairing. I 
>have some revisions to make on my site.
>
>David
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Dr. Jeffrey N. Grossman       phone: (703) 648-6184
US Geological Survey          fax:   (703) 648-6383
954 National Center
Reston, VA 20192, USA