Month: August 2022

This meteorite is classified as NWA 13518. It was found in 2019 near the border of Algeria and Mali was bought from a Saharaui dealer in Mauritania in March 2020. Rumuruti chondrites (also known as R chondrites) are a very rare type of chondrites. Less than 0,5% of chondrites are classified as R. There was only one observed fall of an R chondrite that left a single piece of just 67 grams. They differ from ordinary chondrites mainly in having most of the metal in the form of sulfides, they are more oxidized and contain little metallic Iron and Nickel. They have a matrix with more dust (about 50%), a higher trace element concentration of Zinc and Selenium and a higher Oxygen-17 ratio than ordinary chondrites. Implanted solar wind is found in more than half of the R chondrites analyzed for noble gases until today. Apparently, R chondrites come from an asteroid’s regolith (surface with loose solid materials). They are called “R” after the Rumuruti meteorite, which fell on 28th January 1934 in the Rift Valley, Kenya.

The Zaragoza meteorite was found around 1950 and sold to a mineral collector. Years later it was sold to a French dealer who sold it to American dealers. They cut it and offered it for sale. It weighed 162 kilos. Zaragoza is classified as an IVA-an iron and has a very fine and faint patter and some characteristic cracks near the surface. It is a very stable and hard iron. It is nice to get this slice back to Spain.