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Stony Meteorites: Stony meteorites are comprised of three primary minerals, Olivines, Pyroxenes, and Nickel-Iron Minerals. Olivine and pyroxenes are the most abundant minerals in stony meteorites. Between the three major minerals that make up the common stony meteorites, Olivine usually takes up 40 to 50%. Pyroxenes make up about 15 to 25%, and third, nickel-iron metal with about 3-23% by weight. The remaining minerals are commonly referred to as accessory minerals, and they only make up about 10-15% of the total weight. Stony Meteorites are broken up in two major classes, Chondrites, and achondrites. Chondrites can be further subdivided into four categories: Ordinary chondrites, Carbonaceous chondrites, R-Chondrites, and E-Chondrites. These four categories can be further subdivided, but we will skip that to keep things simple. Achondrites, which consist of stony-irons, and irons were formed by melting, either on or deep within a planetary parent body. Achondrites include asteroidal chondrites, and Martian rocks. One of the most prominent characteristics of stony meteorites is, "Fusion crust" this crust, usually black, forms as a result of friction and ablation caused by the intense cosmic velocity, which these meteorites experience during passage through Earth's atmosphere. Another interesting characteristic is, "Chondules" which are small spherical inclusions. The texture is cosmic, because their presence is absent in terrestrial rocks. The average chondule measures a millimeter in diameter. Most of our stony meteorites are found in the Sahara desert in Morocco, and along the Algerian border.
-Nantan Iron Meteorite: Typically, iron meteorites are composed of a nickel iron alloy. A combination of about 94% iron, 4% nickel, and 2% other elements. This was a witnessed fall in 1516 AD, it was found in 1958 in the Nandan, Guangxi Province, in China. The fall was distributed over an area 16.80-17.4 miles long. The Dong and Yao Nationalities, Two of the 55 ethnic minorities in China, inhabited this particular area. The total estimated weight of this fall was estimated at 9000 Kg.
-Fulgurite: (Lightning-fused Quartz sand) Fulgurite is the varietal name given to quartz, which has been fused by the action of lightning striking the earth. The best-known examples take the form of tubes. As lightning strikes the earth, it melts the sand into glass, vaporizing the sand from the inside the tube. Just imagine the temperatures and amount of electricity necessary to fuse, or even vaporize quartz in a fraction of a second! After cooling, these glass-like hollow tubes can sometimes be located beneath the surface of the sand. The outer surfaces are often rough with adhering, unfused quartz sand grains. The inner surfaces and openings of the tubes are usually smooth and glassy. Many metaphysical practitioners value fulgurites for their high energy and ability to direct and channel energy. They also prize fulgurites as the most powerful of allies in calling upon storm energy. Our fulgurites are found in West Central Florida (Polk County), which is considered by many to be the lightning capital of the world.
-Sikhote-alin Meteorite: This amazing meteorite was found in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, Maritime Province, Russia about 270 miles northeast of Vladivostok. Latitude 46 degrees 9.6 minutes North, Longitude 134 degrees 39.2 minutes west. It was a witnessed fall on February 12, 1947 at 10:38 a.m. local time, upon entry into earth's atmosphere this large meteor shower left a smoke trail about 20 miles long which lingered for several hours, and it was visible from as far as 200 miles away The speed of entry was estimated to be 14.5 kilometers per second. This is about 8.7 miles per second or 31,000 miles per hour The total mass of the Sikhote-Alin has been estimated at somewhat under 1000 tons. Of course this was spread over the area of the strewn field. The largest fragment is a 1,745 Kg specimen now on display in Moscow. The fragments scattered over an elliptical area of about a half a square mile. The largest fragments made small craters and pits. One of these measured 85 feet across and 20 feet deep. The larger craters are located at the far end of the strewn field The Sikhote-Alin is classified in Group IIB, with 5.9% Ni, 0.42% Co. 0.46% P, about 0.28% S, 52 ppm Ga, 161 ppm Ge, 0.03 ppm Ir. Of course, almost all of the remaining portion of the meteorite is iron.
-Campo Del Cielo Iron meteorites:Locality: Gran Chaco Gualamba, Chaco , Argentena. Iron: Octahedrite, coarse with silicate inclusions (3.0 mm) Type: IA.Chemical composition: This meteorite is classified in group I, 6.68% Ni, 0.43%, 0.25% P, 87 ppm Ga, 407 ppm Ge, 3.6 ppm Ir. The remaining portion of the meteorite is Iron. This great meteorite was first discovered in 1572 by Spanish explorers in Chaco Argentena. Thousands of pieces have been found near some impact craters. The largest weighing an immense 37 Tons! These pieces are from a new find, many miles from the original strewn field; they are gorgeous individuals fully regmaglypted.
-Mars meteorite (Dag 476): Dar al Gani 476, also known as "Lucky 13", is a basaltic shergottite found in the Libyan Sahara desert. The brown, loaf-shaped mass measuring ~15 x 10 cm and weighing 2,015 g was analyzed and classified at Germany's Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie in Mainz. Dar al Gani 476 contains an unusually high abundance (24 vol%) of zoned olivine megacrysts up to 5 mm in size. These magnesian olivines contain unusual pyroxene-chromium inclusions and are most likely xenocrysts derived from a lherzolitic rock and embedded in a fine-grained groundmass composed of mostly Ca-poor pigeonite and feldspathic glass, with minor Ca-rich augite. Dar al Gani 476 shows close petrographic and mineralogical similarities to the basaltic shergottite EETA79001 lithology A. In addition, the REE pattern (LREE-depleted) and Sm-Nd systematics imply that a close association once existed with the basaltic shergottite QUE94201, as well as to Nakhla and Chassigny. However, the less evolved, highly-mafic compositions of olivine, pyroxene, chromite, and ilmenite in DaG 476 are closer to that of the lherzolitic shergottites. The conditions under which DaG 476 crystallized were more reducing than those of other basaltic shergottites, and it is the most magnesian member (Fo76) of the basalt subgroup. Overall, its mineralogy and bulk chemistry indicate that it is a distinct shergottite intermediate between the basaltic and lherzolitic subgroups. Dar al Gani 476 has a young crystallization age of ~474 m.y. (Sm-Nd), with a rapid cooling rate corresponding to a burial depth during crystallization of less than 3 m; similar to the results obtained for EETA79001 lithology A. Dar al Gani 476 is thought to have formed through a high-degree of partial melting of a lherzolite-like source material with other Martian rock, followed by segregation of a melt containing unmelted phases of olivine, enstatite, and chromite. A residue containing a fraction of these unmelted phases was removed from this "crystal mush", leaving behind the fraction that would eventually form DaG 476. The texture of the olivine xenocrysts and pyroxene crystals are indicative of flow alignment within an extruded lava flow near the surface. High shock features including twinning of clinopyroxene, mosaicism of olivine, and plagioclase converted to feldspathic glass, as well as abundant impact melt pockets, correspond to a shock stage of at least S5 and suggest a possible origin of DaG 476 as an impact melt.
-R Chondrites: This group of meteorites, formerly known for the Carlisle Lakes specimen, is now known for the only fall of the group, Rumuruti. The group is highly oxidized, olivine-rich, and metal-poor. They differ greatly in Oxidation State, oxygen isotope composition, and mineralogy from ordinary, carbonaceous, or enstatite chondrites, or silicate inclusions in IAB and IIE irons. The parent body was originally highly unequilibrated but was subsequently thermally metamorphosed and impact-melted to a moderate degree. Most members are highly brecciated and contain implanted solar wind gases indicating an origin from a surface regolith. These meteorites range in classification from R3-R6, our R3 was found in the Sahara desert in Morocco it has been professionally analyzed and classified.