Tamdakht meteorite


The Tamdakht meteorite fell near Ouarzazate, Morocco on 20 December 2008 producing a strewn field of approximately by and two small impact craters, one of about diameter and depth at and the other of about diameter and depth at.
The meteorite is named after a village close to the fall.
On April 22, 2017, small bits of the meteorite were handed out to children at the Boston March for Science.

Mineralogy

Petrology: :
Abundant chondrules with visible but not well-delimited outlines. Chondrule size is 0.1 to 1.5 mm. Dominant olivine and orthopyroxene. Abundant chromite, rare clinopyroxene and ilmenite. Numerous pockets with chromite, plagioclase and phosphate. Kamacite, with deformed Neumann bands, and taenite, twinned troilite. Copper. Mode: metal+troilite 10%.
Mineral compositions and geochemistry: log χ = 5.3. Olivine Fa18 ± 0.5 Opx = En83 Fs16 Wo2 Minor calcic pyroxene. Plagioclase is Ab83–86 An5–15 Or7–2. Ca-phosphate. Chromite: Cr# = 82. Metal: kamacite with 5% Ni and taenite with 36–47% Ni. Oxygen isotopes : δ17O = 3.26‰, δ18O = 5.01‰, and Δ17O = 0.65‰. Magnetic susceptibility is log χ = 5.3 × 10–9 m3/kg.

Classification

Ordinary chondrite, S3, W0.

Other