Not sure if I missed this on here, very nice read!
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/release.cfm?ArticleID=1812
part of the story:
"Scientists Publish 1st Ever Evidence of Asteroids with Earth-like Crust.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Two rare meteorites found in Antarctica two years ago are
from a previously unknown, ancient asteroid with an outer layer or crust
similar in composition to the crust of Earth's continents, reports a research
team primarily composed of geochemists from the University of Maryland.
Published in the January 8 issue of the journal Nature, this is the first ever
finding of material from an asteroid with a crust like Earth's. The discovery
also represents the oldest example of rock with this composition ever found.
These meteorites point "to previously unrecognized diversity" of materials
formed early in the history of the Solar System, write authors James Day,
Richard Ash, Jeremy Bellucci, William McDonough and Richard Walker of the
University of Maryland; Yang Liu and Lawrence Taylor of the University of
Tennessee and Douglas Rumble III of the Carnegie Institution for Science.
"What is most unusual about these rocks is that they have compositions similar
to Earth's andesite continental crust -- what the rock beneath our feet is made
of," said first author Day, who is a research scientist in Maryland's
department of geology. "No meteorites like this have ever been seen before."
Day explained that his team focused their investigations on how such different
Solar System bodies could have crusts with such similar compositions. "We show
that this occurred because of limited melting of the asteroid, and thus
illustrate that the formation of andesite crust has occurred in our solar
system by processes other than plate tectonics, which is the generally accepted
process that created the crust of Earth."
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