Meteorite Weighing 15 Metric Tons Falls in Africa, 2 New Minerals Found

Scientists have identified two new minerals never before seen on Earth in a 15.2 metric ton (33,510 pound) meteorite. The mineral comes from a 70-gram (nearly 2.5 ounce) slice of a meteorite found in Somalia in 2020.

This meteorite is also the ninth largest ever found, according to a news release from the University of Alberta, reported by the CNN website, Tuesday (27/12/2022). Chris Herd, curator of the university's meteorite collection, received samples of the space rock so he could classify it.

As he examined it, something unusual caught his eye; some parts of the sample couldn't be identified with a microscope. He then sought advice from Andrew Locock, head of the university's Electron Microprobe Laboratory, because Locock had experience describing new minerals.

"On the first day he did some analysis, he said, 'You have at least two new minerals in there,'" Herd, a professor in the university's department of earth and atmospheric sciences.

One mineral's name - elaliite - comes from the extraterrestrial object itself, which was called the "El Ali" meteorite because it was discovered near the town of El Ali in central Somalia. Herd named the second elkinstantonite after Lindy Elkins-Tanton, vice president of Arizona State University's Interplanetary Initiative.

Elkins-Tanton is also a regent professor in the university's School of Earth and Space Exploration and the principal investigator of NASA's upcoming Psyche mission - a trip to a metal-rich asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter, according to the space agency.

"Lindy has done a lot of work on how planetary cores form, how these iron-nickel cores form, and the closest analog we have are iron meteorites," Herd said.

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"The International Mineralogical Association's approval of two new minerals in November this year shows that the work is strong," said Oliver Tschauner, a mineralogist and research professor in the department of geosciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"Anytime you find a new mineral, it means the actual geological conditions, the rock chemistry, are different from those found before," said Herd.

Locock's quick identification was possible because similar minerals had been made synthetically before, and he was able to match the composition of the newly discovered mineral to that of man-made minerals, according to a University of Alberta release.

"Materials scientists do this all the time," says Alan Rubin, a meteorite researcher and former assistant professor and researcher of geochemistry in the department of earth, planetary, and space sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. The two new minerals are iron phosphates, Tschauner said. Phosphates are salts or esters of phosphoric acid.

"The phosphates in iron meteorites are a secondary product: They are formed through the oxidation of phosphides ... which are the main component of rare iron meteorites," he said by email.

The findings were presented last November at the University of Alberta's Outer Space Exploration Symposium.

"These revelations broaden our perspective on what natural materials can be found and can form in the solar system," said Rubin.

The El Ali meteorite of mineral origin appears to have been sent to China to find a buyer, Herd said.

According to Herd, the newly discovered mineral could have interesting implications for the future. "Whenever a new material is known, materials scientists are also interested because of its potential use in various things in society," said Herd.