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Ziz (Algeria) IA (iron) Found January 2000

Iron meteorite finds in the desert are very, very rare. Many professional meteorite hunters have spent years scouring the deserts, finding thousands of ordinary chondrites and even some Martian and lunar specimens during their searches, but never an iron meteorite. In fact, this new iron find is reputed to be the first iron found in the desert in the last 10 years or so.

Classified as a type IA octahedrite and with the working name Ziz, these are truly delightful little irons. Original fusion crust is preserved on much of the surface and is a gun metal grey/black colour. The crystal boundaries of the kamacite & taenite plates can be clearly seen through parts of the fusion crust, and when cut and polished, this new iron meteorite reveals a very high amount of schreibersite.

Two large masses were recovered each weighing around 21Kg. Several small individuals totalling around 1.5Kg and a medium sized 1.899Kg individual (listed below) were also found. Ziz is visually similar to Sikhote-Alin on the outside - lots of regmaglypts, fusion crust and some angular features, although the class of course is completely different.

Images:

zizetch zizfc

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