CLASSIFICATION UNKNOWN THE SAHARA DESERT

A STONE METEORITE FROM SAHARA DESERT — A PRIMER IN METEORITES

Meteorites—not to be confused with meteors, the luminescent phenomena in the night sky—are fragments of natural material from outer space that impact Earth. Named after the closest city, county, or geological feature to which they are “delivered,” meteorites originate from asteroids, the Moon and Mars. Meteorites possess highly specific elemental signatures, not only inregard to the constituent elements themselves but also the ratios among these elements. The meteorite now offered was acquired in 2015 by a Moroccan meteorite dealer from a nomad. XRF (x-ray fluorescence) analysis confirms this is unquestionably a meteorite. The XRF results combined with magnetic susceptibility instrumentation further indicate it’s extremely likely this is among the more common meteorite types to exist: an H chondrite. While it could be an exotic highly unmetamorphosed H chondrite, that’s impossible to confirm without removing a sample.

To enable scientists to refer to individual meteorites, there must be a nomenclature system, and so a committee of scientists provide the official designation. In the desert, where there are few distinguishing geological features, meteorites are named after a grid encompassing a designated area and are assigned a sequential number. As the current offering was found in the Sahara Desert in or near Morocco, it would be assigned a name that commences “North West Africa” (NWA) and a number. This protocol commences with a sample—the lesser of 20 grams or 20% of the total mass—being sent to an accredited scientist for analysis. The researcher’s findings are then peer reviewed and upon a consensus of the specimen’s petrography, geochemistry, type and classification, the meteorite is named, announced in the Meteoritical Bulletin and officially becomes part of the scientific literature. The sample is not returned as it becomes part of a permanent repository that can always be accessed when research needs arise. Should you wish to have this meteorite classified and have yourself listed in the annals of the Meteoritical Bulletin (or you can be “anonymous” if preferred), we will provide the introduction to initiate this process.

Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalogue note.