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Tamentit - Part 2 of 2

michel franco schrieb:

> Hello list ...and Bernd: I am looking
> for info about the TAMENTIT meteorite.


Bonjour Michel, Hello List!


V.F. Buchwald, Handbook of Iron Meteorites, Vol.3, pp. 1177-1179
(excerpts):

Lacroix (1927b) had a 10 kg sample cut from the mass with a blowtorch;
he then discussed the observed damage and the preferential oxidation
and burning of iron by the torch.A very brief and somewhat inappropriate
description of etched sections led to the classification of Tamentit as
a coarse octahedrite, an erroneous conclusion still held in modern
catalogs (Hey 1966: 472). For a possible relationship with another
small iron the reader is referred to Dellys.

Collections

Paris (main mass of 500 kg and slices, totaling 50 kg),
Copenhagen (747 g), Vatican (576 g), Chicago (534 g),
London (341 g), Rome (167 g), Calcutta (138 g).

Description:

Tamentit is shield-shaped. It presents an anterior domed, almost
hemispherical surface, and a posterior concave surface. Its maximum
thickness is 44 cm, while the somewhat square shield measures 77x80 cm
in two perpendicular directions.
The hemispherical dome is covered with well developed regmaglypts,
generally 5-9 cm across and with smoothly rounded ridges in between.
The opposite concave surface is covered with still larger regmaglypts,
some of which are inconspicuous and shallow, while others are deep and
bowl-shaped. Fusion crusts are present, except in places where the domed
surface was exposed to contact by human beings and animals while partly
buried in the streets of Tamentit.
The state of corrosion is probably what can be expected from 500
years of exposure to Sahara's environment, so it appears plausible that
Tamentit really was observed to fall about the year 1400. Tamentit is a
shock-hardened medium octahedrite related to Tamarugal, Aggie Creek,
Trenton and Thule. It is a normal member of group IIIA and is
particularly interesting because of its beautiful shield-shape and its
rather well documented history.


BURKE J.G. (1986) Cosmic Debris, Meteorites in History, pp.225-226:

The Tamentit, Morocco, meteoritic iron, recognized in 1863, fell,
according to Lacroix, about the end of the fourteenth century. The
Arab legend was that a block of gold fell between Noum en Nas
and Tittaf. The inhabitants came immediately to the site and quarreled
about its possession, whereupon God changed it to silver. When there
was still disagreement, God changed it to iron, after which the
people lost interest in it. Sheikh 'Amr had it conveyed to the
oasis of Tamentit, where it was placed in front of a mosque.


Best regards,

Bernd

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