[meteorite-list] Dhofar pairings

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Nov 8 15:50:20 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C86904EE6175_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Steve and List,

> It is simply amazing the number of nwa's. Something like over 3000?
> I know that the dhofar number is not that high.But still high enough!
> It continues o amaze me the number of pairings that are being found.
> AMAZING!But as far as the dhofars,only it seems that the lunars amd
> mars rocks seem to have some pairings.NOT THE ORDINARY CHONDRITES.AMAZING!

We will never know all the pairings of Dhofar or any other dense
collecting area. The reasons are time, cost and interest. Martian
and lunar meteorites are exceptions because of rarity and interest on
the part of researchers. There isn't sufficient scientific interest
to determine pairings for the huge quantity of equilibrated ordinary
chondrites.

While find locations are well-documented for Dhofar meteorites,
proximity of finds is not a good discriminant for the purposes of
pairing common meteorite types. Nor is weathering grade, shock
to +/- 1 level, or equilibrated petrologic grade to +/- 1. A
casual glance at Meteoritical Bulletin 87 which has five pages of
Dhofar classifications from Dhofar 294-837 shows that there are
many opportunities for unidentified pairings. Note that Dhofar
324 and 346 were identified as probably paired (based on proximity,
shock, weathering, fayalite and ferrosilite), but one was classified
H6 and the other H5.

Dhofar 383, 385 and 386 are listed separately but have basically the same
classification and were found quite near each other. And Dhofar 032, 036,
130, 132, 137, 139, 141, 142, 790, 791, 793, 798, and 801-804 are all
indicated as being paired to one another (H6 S2-3 W2-4). 806, 812 and 813
could also easily be from the same fall. The pairings are in there --
they just haven't been identified.

--Rob
Received on Mon 08 Nov 2004 03:46:45 PM PST