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Re: Hamada du Draa

At 04:47 PM 2/19/98 -0500, you wrote:
>DEVONS wrote:
>> 
>> Hi All!  I was wondering if anyone could help me out with information on
>> Hamada Du Draa.  Is it in fact the same meteorite as the one being sold as
>> El Hamami Mountains?
>> 
>Jeanne,
>
>Jeff Grossman was checking this question back in December for the
Meteoritical
>Society. I don't know if there has been a final or tentative decision.
>
>The two meteorites are sufficiently similar to be the same, and yet, there
are
>differences. Many of the differences, however, could be explained as
>representing different portions or areas of the same body, e.g., there are
>some sections of the Brenham pallasite with no olivine crystals, The facing
>and trailing fusion crust of a meteorite can look entirely different.
>
>There is also the fact that the finders are smart enough to know they can
>generate more interest with two different falls than they can with one.
>
>This will probably require detailed chemical and structural testing and some
>back room arguing before an "official" answer is determined.
>
>Gene
>
>
The jury is still out on this one.  It seems likely that we will all
have to wait for the determination of cosmic-ray exposure ages, rare
gas contents, and detailed chemical/mineralogical studies to learn
about whether they are the same fall.  And even then, it may be 
difficult to be conclusive.  I don't know when we can expect to see
these results, nor if anybody is planning to do the study at all.
(If only they were carbonaceous chondrites, we'd be seeing results
next month in Houston; unfortunately, they're lowly H5's, second
only to L6's in fall frequency, and not of special interest.)

Unless the Nomenclature Committee receives definitive evidence of
pairing in the next two months, look for both names to appear
in the July Meteoritical Bulletin.  At this moment, no final decision
has been reached.

Jeff