[meteorite-list] Identification of ONE historical meteorite from S America

From: rm31 at free.fr <rm31_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 01:32:15 +0200
Message-ID: <1309217535.4e0912ff6c203_at_imp.free.fr>

Thanks to Michael, Doug, Mike, Carl, LeeAnn, Richard, Rob, Murray and Zelimir
for their quick and kind replies to my request for help.

#2 has been unanimously identified as IMILAC on the base of the external aspect
which, according to the many pictures found on the web, is quite recognizable.

#1 is still undetermined. I would not rely on the name (Atacama) too literally
as #2 was erroneously named "Peru". Probably it only refers to the Atacama
desert region. The earliest information I have on this stones is that they were
obtained on february 04, 1866, from De Limur, a politician from Bretagne and a
member of the Societe Francaise de Mineralogie.
In the MetBull database I could find 5 irons that fell or were found before this
date in the Atacama region.

Imilac 1822, Pallasite, PMG
Barranca Blanca 1855, Iron, IIE-an
Joel's Iron 1858, Iron, IIIAB
Vaca Muerta 1861, Mesosiderite-A1
Copiapo 1863, IAB-MG

Imilac can be excluded because of the 10% Ni it contains (analysis from Wasson,
reported by M Gabelica). I suppose others can be eliminated on the basis of the
composition (Ni 6.62, Cr 0.54) and the petrological type, can someone help?
If chemically compatible, Copiapo would be a good candidate because there is a
small piece of this meteorite in the collection of the University here. However,
I didn't get a chance to take a look at it yet for comparison.
Discovering who this "Turner" (who has done the analysis) is may help. Doug
suggested it could be Dr Grenville Turner, a research professor at the
University of Manchester, born in 1936. Also, is there a way to identify the
stones directly with the composition, I mean does it exist a database allowing
this kind of search?

Renaud
Received on Mon 27 Jun 2011 07:32:15 PM PDT