THE METEORITICAL BULLETIN E-mail Announcement 87-1, January 28, 2003 Sara Russell, Editor (sara.russell@nhm.ac.uk) Jutta Zipfel, Assoc. Ed. for Northwest Africa (zipfel@mpch-mainz.mpg.de) Luigi Folco, Assoc. Ed. for Africa (folco@unisi.it) Monica Grady, Assoc. Ed. for Oman (M.Grady@nhm.ac.uk) Rhian Jones, Assoc. Ed. for the Americas (rjones@unm.edu) Tim McCoy, Assoc. Ed. for Antarctica (mccoy.tim@nmnh.si.edu) Jeffrey N. Grossman, Assoc. Ed. for Web (jgrossman@usgs.gov) Dar al Gani 975 27019.63' N, 16013.00' E Libya Found 1999 August 21 Martian meteorite (basaltic shergottite) A 27.55 g stone was found on 1999 August 21 in the sand desert of Dar al Gani. Classification and mineralogy (A. Greshake, MNB, and M. Kurz, Kurz): a basaltic shergottite with porphyritic texture; large chemically zoned olivine phenocrysts are set into a fine-grained groundmass consisting mostly of pyroxene and maskelynite; minor phases include chromite, Ti-rich chromite, sulfides, phosphates, and small Fe-rich olivines; olivine phenocrysts often contain melt inclusions, small chromites and exsolution lamellae; pyroxenes are mostly chemically zoned pigeonites, some contain orthopyroxene cores; olivine phenocrysts, Fa24.3-38.3; pigeonite, Fs21.1-29Wo5.9-13.8; orthopyroxene, Fs17.4-21.8Wo1.8-3.4; augite, Fs18.5Wo34; matrix olivine, Fa35.9-39.8; maskelynite, An66.5-71.4; shock stage, S4; contains melt veins and melt pockets; low degree of weathering. Possibly paired with DaG 467, 489, 670, 735 and 876. Specimens: main mass with anonymous finder; type specimen, 8.5 g, plus one polished thin section MNB.
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