1. Fragments of the Solar System
Meteorites
Fragments of the Solar System

2. Dedicated to Dr. Elbert King
First director of the Lunar Receiving Lab
Recovered a lot of Allende!!
Meteoriticist

3. Meteorites Meteoroids Meteors Meteorites
“small” rocks orbiting in space
Meteors
“rocks” entering the atmosphere and glowing
Most are the size of a grain of sand
Some are a lot bigger!!!
Meteorites
Rocks from space that have hit the Earth

4. Thunderstone of Ensisheim
1492

5. Thunderstone of Ensisheim What’s left of it

6. What Holbrook supposedly looked like 1946

7. Famous painting of the Shikote-Alin meteorite on a USSR postage stamp.

8. Meteorites Irons iron + nickel Stoney Irons Stoney
Mesosiderites MES silicate + iron
Pallasites PAL iron + silicate (olivine)
Stoney
Chondrites silicate + some iron (sometimes)
Ordinary Chondrites H, L, LL
Carbonaceous Chondrites C, CO, CV, CM, CK
Others – Enstatite Chondrites E – Rumruti R
Achondrites
HED – from Vesta
SNC – from Mars
ALUN – from the Moon

9. Irons
Cape York – “discovered” by Peary from Greenland actually discovered by local Inuit

10. Irons

11. Irons

12. Irons
Witmanstatten Patterns
Gibeon

13. Irons
Willamette

14. Irons
Hoba – 60 tons
Campo del Cielo

15. Stony Irons Mesosiderites - MES
Silicate based – with a lot of metal running through it.
NWA1879

16. Stoney Irons
Another mesosiderite -MES

17. Stoney Irons
Mesosiderite Morristown

18. Stoney Iron Pallasites
Iron based – with olivine crystals sprinkled through
Thought to be from the core- mantle boundary of the parent asteroid

19. Stoney Iron Pallasite – lit from behind

20. Stoney - Chondrites Ordinary Chondrites
H (High Metal) – L (Low Metal) – LL (Very Low Metal)
Inside (Brecciated) Outside (Crusted)
Probably a L4-5 – this comes from NWA – Morocco

21. Chondrules / Chondrites

22. Stoney - Chondrites Carbonaceous chondrites
Residue from the formation of the Solar System – 4.5+ Billion Years old
Murcheson – CM2
Allende – CV3.2

23. Stoney - Achondrites HED Howardite DAG 844
Meteorites from Asteroid 4 Vesta
HED Howardite
DAG 844

24. Stoney - Achondrites
HED Eucrite
Millbillillie

25. Stoney - Achondrites
HED Diogenite
Johnstown

26. Stoney - Achondrites
Meteorites from Mars
SNC Shergottite
Zagami

27. Stoney - Achondrites
SNC
DAG 476
Dhofar 019

28. Stoney - Achondrites
Meteorites from the Moon
ALUN
DAG 400

29. How do we know they are from Mars / the Moon / 4 Vesta??
Mars: Viking 1 and 2 had soil and atmosphere analyzers. The percentages of the elements and isotopes are the same as the SNC meteorites – and different from others!
The Moon: Same story – except we have real moon rocks to compare them to
Vesta: Spectroscopy of Vesta indicates it is made of HED materials, and no other asteroid is. Recent studies show a great crater on Vesta where some of these materials must have been ejected from.

30. How to Study Meteorites
What does it look like (big picture)
What does it look like (microscope)
What elements are in it (chemistry and microprobe)
What isotopic ratios are there (microprobe)
Where did it come from (compare to asteroids and planets)
How did it fall (distribution)

31. Meteorites / Meteorwrongs
Meteorites are not hot when they hit the earth!
Almost all meteorites are magnetic!
Almost all meteorites have some visible metal (though sometimes only a little).
Most meteorites are denser than local rocks.
Meteorites don’t have holes/bubbles in them.
For real analysis you have to take it to an expert

32. How to Study Meteorites
Thin Sections – The coolest way to look at meteorites is in “thin section”. Take a thin slice of the rock, glue it to a microscope slide and grind/polish it until it is 30 micrometers thick. You can then look at it under a “petrographic microscope” with crossed polarizing filters. The colors tell you the minerals!

33. Eucrite Enstatite

34. Richfield LL3.7

35. Pultusk

36. SNC

37. Some chondrules in thin section

40. Eucrite thin section
Looks a lot like Kilauea basalts!

41. Apollo 17 Basalt

42. Apollo 12 Basalt

46. Impact!!!
When a Big rock hits – 50 meters or more – it can make a rather big hole in the ground!!!!

47. Meteor Crater

49. Wolf Creek

50. Lake Manicoagan

51. Chixilub

52. Brent Crater

53. Pretoria “Saltpan”

54. Sudbury + Lake Wanapitei

55. Disclaimer
Aloha I put together these power points for use in my science classes. You may use them in your classes. Some images are public domain, some are used under the fair-use provisions of the copyright law, some are mine. Copyright is retained by the owners!
Ted Brattstrom