[meteorite-list] NEW Ocate, NM Iron Classification & Specimens - AD

Tue May 26 20:27:17 EDT 2009

Hi Greg,

Congratulations on your new meteorite!

Sonny

-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Hupe <gmhupe at htn.net>
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Tue, 26 May 2009 3:18 pm
Subject: [meteorite-list] NEW Ocate, NM Iron Classification & Specimens 
- AD

Dear List Members, 

I would like to announce a newly-approved iron meteorite found in New 
Mexico in 1986 and has just been approved. It is a IAB-MG (Main Group), 
coarse ochtahedrite and is named "Ocate" after the nearest town to 
where it was found. It will be in the online database soon and will be 
published in MB96 (Sept, issue MaPS). It wasn't until 2008 that they 
finder approached me with the single 6.4kg stone that the 
classification process began. I went to the find site last fall with 
the person who found it to take GPS coordinates, photograph the area 
and to hunt for more if there were any to be found. We didn't have much 
time to hunt at that time so we did not find any others. 

Here are a couple of links to give you an idea of how nice Ocate is 
(see all available specimens below classification below). This was cut 
and prepared by one of the best meteorite craftsman in the business! 

Polished and etched face of a 314g complete slice: 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00002.jpg 
Ocate, New Mexico sign: 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/OcateSign.jpg 
The find site of the 6.4kg Oca
te iron: 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/findsite.jpg 

Getting to the find site is treacherous and a 4-wheel drive vehicle 
with high clearance is required! It took us about three hours after 
leaving the paved road to get to the site up the mountain on a road 
that was more like a crater-ridden trail with large boulders in most 
places and swampy mud in others. To successfully hunt the site would 
require camping for a week, there is no way to drive up and down the 
mountain each day and get enough hunting hours in to make it 
worthwhile. There are also lots of elk hunters during hunting season so 
anyone who wants to give it a go, be careful! 

Submitted and approved classification for "Ocate": 
Ocate 36° 17.72' N, 105° 2.90' W 

Mora County, New Mexico 

Find: 1986 

Iron (IAB-MG), coarse octahedrite 

History: This single 6.4kg mass was found by a local New Mexico hunter 
in 1986. Knowing it was different from the surrounding rocks and had an 
odd appearance (the face of a bear), the hunter took it home and set it 
aside with an odd assortment of 'collectibles' while hunting and 
mountaineering over decades in the New Mexico area. The owner contacted 
G. Hupe in May 2008 for verification of the find, which was confirmed 
by study of the type sample at the University of Alberta. 

Physical characteristics: A single stone w
eighing 6402 grams with 
virtually no apparent fusion crust, yet also lacking progressed 
terrestrial alteration, which contributes towards its dark brown 
metallic appearance with well defined regmaglypts. 

Petrography: (C. Herd, N. Bruemmer, UAb) A 5 x 7 cm polished and etched 
slab reveals Widmanstätten pattern with an average bandwidth of 1.4 ± 
0.2 mm, few areas of plessite, and numerous inclusions. A 1 cm 
ellipsoidal graphite nodule and several smaller inclusions of graphite, 
troilite and schreibersite are associated with polygonal kamacite on 
one portion of the slab. Smaller, mm-scale elongate inclusions of 
troilite are oriented parallel to kamacite lamellae where the 
Widmanstätten is better developed. Terrestrial oxides decorate 
fractures within a few mm of the exterior surface. 

Geochemistry: Bulk Composition: INAA data (J. Duke, UAb): Ni = 6.99 ± 
0.05 wt%, Co = 0.466 ± 0.004 wt%, Ga = 71.9 ± 0.3 μg/g, Ge = 271 ± 6 
μg/g, Ir = 2.25 ± 0.04 μg/g, Au = 1.60 ± 0.03 μg/g, As = 15.2 ± 0.3 
μg/g, Cu = 119 ± 11 μg/g, W = 0.87 ± 0.08 μg/g, Re = 0.22 ± 0.02 μg/g 
(uncertainties 1s, 68% confidence level). 

Classification: Iron meteorite, IAB main group, coarse octahedrite, 
minimal shock, minimal weathering. 

Type specimens: 97.58 g slab and a 3.2 g interior piece, UAb, main 
mass, G. Hupe. 0D

I have only 12 specimens out of 15 that are available, here is the list 
which also shows the thickness of each piece: 

Ocate, New Mexico IAB-MG iron meteorite 
910g end cut 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/nm910a.jpg 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/nm910b.jpg 

322.6g cs 4mm thick 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00001.jpg 

314g cs 4mm 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00002.jpg 

211.6g cs 3.5mm 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00003.jpg 

208.2g cs 4mm 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00004.jpg 

191g cs 4mm 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00005.jpg 

168.6g cs 2.5mm 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00006.jpg 

163.8g cs 2.5mm 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00007.jpg 

162.9g ps 6.5mm 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00008.jpg 

162.8g cs 3.5mm 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00009.jpg 

130g ps 5-7mm 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00010.jpg 

4.5g ps (unpolished) 5mm 
http://www.lunarrock.com/ocate/specimens/dsc00011.jpg 
cs - complete slice 
ps - part slice 

I am asking just $4.00/g plus shipping, so if you are interested, 
please contact me Off-List. Thank you! 

In addition to these beautiful Ocate specimens, I have another batch of 
eBay auctions ending tomorrow (Wednesday, May 27th). 
Many are still at 
just 99 cents, so more excellent deals will be had this week by bidding 
with me, NaturesVault. Click here for my current eBay auctions: 
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZnaturesvault 

Best regards, 
Greg 

==================== 
Greg Hupe 
The Hupe Collection 
NaturesVault (eBay) 
gmhupe at htn.net 
www.LunarRock.com 
IMCA 3163 
==================== 
Click here for my current eBay auctions: 
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZnaturesvault 

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