[meteorite-list] Acfer breccia

[bernd.pauli at paulinet.de]

Hello Rob L. and List,

Look what I found after cleaning and polishing a desert varnish covered Acfer:
 
http://home.planet.nl/~rlenssen/Acfer500g.htm
 
Dark clasts in lighter matrix. Also metal spots in the dark clasts.
Any idea what this might be? In chondrites I typically see lighter
clasts in darker matrix.


What a beautiful Açfer chondrite! Is it a chondrite after all? The pictures should
have a higher resolution. Are there any chondrules? Questions, questions, questions!

Anyway, it does look quite fresh, so it should be something like W1 or W2 at most.
It does look highly shocked ... at least S4 but more probably S5 or even S6. Well,
that sounds like silicate darkening. Maybe the silicate clasts were not so very dark
prior to the shock event but experienced extensive darkening (caused by melting of
metal-sulfide).

As for: "In chondrites I typically see lighter clasts in darker matrix"

Here are some chondrites that have dark inclusions: NWA 0869, NWA 0978,
NWA 1794, NWA 3346, OUED EL HADJAR, RICHFIELD, TANEZROUFT 061, etc., etc.

Anyway, a mighty beautiful "chondrite", something that, as Dean would now say
"you just gotta love!" ... and if it is not a chondrite ??? Could this be a
planetary meteorite??? Questions, questions, questions!

Cheers,

Bernd




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