From: John higgins<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Official Announcement NWA 6077 is Paired with NWA
5400
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 1:12 PM
Greg Catterton,
I would be very cautious with throwing loose words around
"like considering all
the pairings"
As far as I know NWA 6077 is the only whole stone other
than NWA 6292 of which
is very fragmented that has conclusively been paired
through testing and
subsequent testing to NWA 5400, from what I understand most
of the others are
purely conjecture, or speculative without the extensive
testing completed or in
various stages of testing...
I think our focus should be on the Science and authenticity
of claims before you
start making bets and psychic predictions about how much
more material is paired
to this very special and important meteorite.
Regardless of what you think, and however hard you try to
knock this meteorite
for TKW, of what may or may not come to fruition, this
meteorite is priceless to
Science. I don't understand what the focus on TKW boils
down to other than
monetary value or jealousy, this meteorite truly transcends
price. And I think
the focus should be on the science of what this meteorite
can teach us about our
past. And possibly give us clues to the future. NWA 6077 is
a Meteorite that has
most likely come from the mantle of a planet, which one?
The Oxygen Isotope
results suggest one like our own planet Earth. Even if
there are 10kg or more,
this meteorite is from the mantle of a planet that is
similar to our own and
comes from a place in time that does not exist anymore. I
hope we can, as a
community become more productive with our time and focus on
figuring out what
the meteorite parent body is and what the conditions are
that existed when it
materialized. I suggest we shift the emphasis to the
scientific study rather
than putting such a great focus on prematurely rushing TKW
statistics, that can
only be revealed only after many more years of scientific
studies.
Regards,
John Higgins
IMCA# 9822
----- Original Message ----
From: Greg Catterton<[email protected]>
To: [email protected];
John higgins<[email protected]>
Sent: Tue, October 5, 2010 12:01:35 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Official Announcement NWA
6077 is Paired with NWA
5400
Its great that there is such a nice amount of this material
when considering all
the pairings... With over 10kg of this material in pairings
known so far, I am
willing to bet there is likely a good amount more still.
I bet the Brachinties are coming out of the woodwork to be
tested.
Greg Catterton
www.wanderingstarmeteorites.com
IMCA member 4682
On Ebay: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/wanderingstarmeteorites
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WanderingStarMeteorites
--- On Tue, 10/5/10, John higgins<[email protected]>
wrote:
From: John higgins<[email protected]>
Subject: [meteorite-list] Official Announcement NWA
6077 is Paired with NWA
5400
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 9:26 AM
Official Announcement
NWA 6077 IS PAIRED WITH NWA 5400
North West Africa 6077 Description:
An olivine-rich assemblage with cumulate (or possibly
metamorphic) texture
exhibiting triple junction grain boundaries. Olivine
(Fa30.2-30.7),
orthopyroxene (Fs24.1-24.5Wo2.1-2.0), clinopyroxene
(Fs9.4-10.0Wo44.0-43.5),
altered kamacite, chromite, chlorapatite, Ni-bearing
troilite and/or pyrrhotite.
No plagioclase was found. Analysis conducted at the
Carnegie Institution of
Washington show that the oxygen isotopic composition
of
this specimen plots on
the Terrestrial Fractionation Line. In conjunction
with the
mineral compositions
and texture, this establishes that NWA 6077 is paired
with
NWA 5400.
The averages of the two Oxygen Isotope Results are:
d17O = 2.780, d18O = 5.358, D17O = -0.019 (all in per
mil)
This brachinite was recovered out of Morocco in 2008
as
one whole stone and
purchased by John Higgins. It was submitted for
classification to Dr. Tony
Irving and was given the provisional classification
number
of NWA 6077. This
meteorite has a modest TKW of less than 1000g after
the
type specimen was
removed.
Personal Notes: Although I suspected that the two
were
possibly paired due to
similarities in visual observations and
classification
compositions, I felt it
was important to wait for secondary Oxygen Isotope
results
to come in which have
recently confirmed the results beyond a reasonable
doubt.
There was also another
important factor besides Oxygen Isotope testing that
had
to be taken into
account. Orthopyroxene which is present in NWA 5400
was
missed the first time
around in NWA 6077 because it looks identical to
clinopyroxene in back-scattered
electron images. However further in-depth
microprobe studies of the thin section
have confirmed the presence of orthopyroxene, and are
now noted in the updated
description. I feel that making a self pairing based
upon
my own
visual observations, is not only unethical,
inappropriate,
and akin to pirating,
but would only feed the controversies regarding this
meteorite without the
scientific testing data to back up such speculation,
such
action would be
premature, immoral and unfair to Greg Hupe and NWA
5400
after all the time and
effort he put into the study of what has become one of
the
most important
meteorite finds in history.
Have a Great Day!
John Higgins
IMCA#9822
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