[meteorite-list] UNWA Chondrules Galore - Blue ones, white ones, armored ones, and more. :)

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:24:22 -0400
Message-ID: <e51421550907151324i3d80a25s25b9a194c535b7a8_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi List!

Last night I cut open some small UNWA stones and got a couple of
pleasant surprises.

I cut about 30 stones last night - all of them the size of a walnut or
smaller. Most of them were nothing to write home about (or write to
the List about). But 2 were standouts.

The first stone weighs about 10 grams and has a wind polished desert
varnish on it - chondrules were visible on the surface, but I expected
a matrix similar to NWA 869 - based on similar-looking stones I have
cut. Instead, I saw a pleasant black matrix with abundant chondrules.
 The chondrules are packed tightly together and there are lots of
metal veins that snake around between the chondrules. A couple of the
chondrules are "armored" with perfect rings of metal around them.
Based on this stone's metal content, magnetic attraction, and abundant
chondrules, I am thinking it might be an H3. Does anyone have any
comments? Could it be a metal-rich carbonaceous type? Sanding a
slice to 320 grit produced a decent shine and removed the saw marks,
but didn't enhance the chondrules much - it might the white ones stand
out more, but the others became harder to see. I took photos of the
polished slice and the unsanded slices. There is also a photo of the
"main mass" stone.

Closeup of sanded slice with armored chondrule -
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/slice-chondrules.jpg

Sanded slice with armored chondrule -
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/slice-close-chondrules.jpg

Unsanded slice -
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/slice-close-chondrules-rough.jpg

Another - http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/slice-chondrules-rough-2.jpg

Yet another rough slice
-http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/slice-chondrules-rough.jpg

The "main mass" -
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/chondrules-stone.jpg

...

The second interesting stone is chondrule rich. It has a reddish
matrix with blue chondrules (and some others). It has the usual
nickel-iron flecks, but there are also blebs of brassy troilite.
Sanding a slice to 320 blurred the details, so this is another one
that shows better without sanding.

Red matrix troilite -
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/red-chondrules-troilite.jpg

Closeup of red matrix slice -
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/red-chondrules-troilite-close3.jpg

Another closeup -
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/red-chondrules-troilite-2.jpg

...

Here is a 3rd stone that was unremarkable, except for this big honkin
white chondrule -

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/honker.jpg

...

Time to get a polarizer assembly! -
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/chondrules/microscope.jpg

....

Does anyone have any comments on what the pictured stones above might be? (type)

The black one with armored chondrules might take a good polish - I
have some finer sandpaper and rouge on the way. :)

Best regards,

MikeG

-- 
.........................................................
Michael Gilmer (Louisiana, USA)
Member of the Meteoritical Society.
Member of the Bayou Region Stargazers Network.
Websites - http://www.galactic-stone.com and http://www.glassthrower.com
..........................................................

Received on Wed 15 Jul 2009 04:24:22 PM PDT