El Tiro (meteorite)

El Tiro (or, "the shot") is a meteorite named after the nearest town to where it was found in Sonora, Mexico. The entire mass was acquired by Aerolite Meteorites of Tucson, Arizona, owned by Geoff Notkin of Meteorite Men. It was sliced and sold into private collections.

El Tiro
El Tiro specimen
TypeOrdinary chondrite
ClassL3
CompositionChondrule olivine Fa

21.4±8.8 , Fe/Mn=65±26, Cr 2 O 3 ==0.06±0.05 wt%, n==10, chondrule low -Ca pyroxene Fs 20.4±1.0

Wo 2.0±1.2, Fe/Mn=29±2, n=7
Shock stageS3
Weathering gradeW2
CountryMexico
RegionSonora
Coordinates30°16.9′N 111°49.03′W
Observed fallNo
Fall datePrehistoric times
Found dateJan 2013
TKW2.44 kilograms (2,440 g)

History

A gold prospector found a single stone showing weathering cracks, remnant fusion crust, and shallow regmaglypts close to the El Tiro settlement in Sonora, Mexico. El Tiro is one of only nine confirmed meteorites from Sonora, Mexico and one of 109 confirmed meteorites from Mexico.[1]

Aerolite Meteorites acquired and sold the main mass, while a 23.1 grams (0.0231 kg) mass, including a probe mount, is held at the University of New Mexico's Institute of Meteoritics.

Physical characteristics

A saw cut polished slices of the stone reveal densely packed chondrules of variable size set in a dark brown ground mass.

Such slices also demonstrate unequilibrated chondrules, as well as apparent mean diameter containing many with porphyritic, igneously zoned olivines and pyroxenes. Scattered, opaque, and fine-grained matrix is present. High-Ca pyroxenes were also observed, and only small amounts of very fine-grained plagioclase were observed.

See also

References
  1. Bouvier, Audrey; Gattacceca, Jerome; Agee, Carl; Grossman, Jeffrey; Metzler, Knut (2017). "Alphabetical text entries for non-Antarctic meteorites" (PDF). The Meteoritical Bulletin (104): 25. doi:10.1111/maps.12930. Retrieved 17 May 2018.

"Stone Meteorites". Aerolite Meteorites. Retrieved 16 May 2018.

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