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Old 13th November 2005, 04:49 PM   #12
Alam Shah
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Default Nantan iron/nickel meteorite...

BMStar,

The Nantan is an iron meteorite with the following information...(unless I'm mistaken). If I'm wrong, please enlighten me.
Research The research on the Nantan meteorites is done mainly by the researchers from the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the late 1970s, some professors from the University of Tokyo and Gakusuin University, Japan, took part in a joint research project. The summary here is based on the Chinese publications.

Shapes and Sizes Nantan meteorites have different shapes: spherical, triangle, flat-iron shaped, elliptical, semi-sheered, tongue-shaped, irregular, and so on. Fresh meteorite surfaces are black, and commonly characterized with angular or round melted pits. The ones deeply weathered are brown and lack of melted surface.The size of Nantan meteorites collected ranges from 10 grams to 2,000 kg. Total weight is estimated to be 9,500 kg.

Mineralogical Composition and Texture More than ten minerals have been found in the Nantan meteorites, dominantly kamacite and taenite. Secondary are plessite, scheribersite, triolite, graphite, spherlite, sideroferrite, dyslytite, cliftonite, and lawrencite. Coarse octohedrite. Kamacite lamina are 1 - 3.1 mm wide. Widmanstattern pattern is obvious in polished pieces.

Chemical Compositions The average Chemical composition in the Nantan meteorites are: Fe 92.35%, Ni 6.96%, belonging to IIICD type of iron meteorite based on the taxonomy of Wasson and others (1980). The following trace elements have been detected: C, Cu, Co, S, P, Cr, Ga, Ge, As, Sb, W, Re, Ir, Au, Ru, Pd, Os, Pr, and Mn. Ag, Cd, and Pb isotopes have been analyzed by Prof. Wang Daode and others (1993).
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