[meteorite-list] Amgala versus Zag

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:49 2004
Message-ID: <037801c409ea$eb718860$62f61018_at_attbi.com>

Hello All,

At first glance Amgala is somewhat similar looking to Zag although there are
noticeable differences between the two. I do not believe Amgala is going to
classify as a regolith breccia but rather a polymict breccia. Unlike Zag,
no type 3 areas have been identified. Two laboratories are currently
studying Amgala and neither one has observed water bearing minerals but some
interesting clasts have been found which we will report on later. Another
party suggested halite because ~10% of the most recently collected broken
stones show some oxidation on the exposed surfaces. This oxidation is very
minor and could be removed easily with an air abrasion tool but we chose not
to in order to preserve these stones in as found condition.

As far as the price dropping into the $5.00 to $7.00 a gram range it is very
doubtful because there is less than 12 kilograms TKW and a good portion has
already been sold to collectors for between $7.50 a gram for fragments and
$12.00 a gram for fully crusted specimens. The seventh and final trip to
the area by the Moroccan half of Team LunarRock only produced five stones
making it less than cost effective to return to the region. All indications
are that this is a very small fall with precious little more material coming
out. After all, nomads avoid this area and soldiers have been methodically
searching it for months now. Only the soldiers know which areas are safe
and which are not and they are done searching because of the lack of new
finds associated with this fall.

We rang up a tremendous amount of expenses pursuing this fall including
communication, transportation, specimen purchases, sample material,
supplies, shipping and lab fee costs. 26% of the recovered stones we paid
the high field price for turned out to be a black chondrite not related to
this fall. This increased our acquisition costs by nearly the same
percentage. Pursuing Amgala was an expensive undertaking. Was it worth it?
Yes, this is some very handsome material with the nicest jet-black velvety
crust I have seen not to mention the contrast provided by the polymict
breccia texture.

We will update as lab results come in which promise to be interesting.

All the best,

Adam
Received on Sun 14 Mar 2004 12:36:32 PM PST