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MeteoritesIs it an Angrite or a Ureilite?

30th Jun 2023 19:00 UTCHaris Khan

07449740017057119446740.jpg
Weight: 4.4 kilos
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/yDXH3hc8cLvhwWos9

XRF Analysis

Iron | 23%
Silicon | 11.45%
Aluminum | 9.86%
Nickel | 1.48%
Tin/Stannum | 4.92%
Copper | 0.96%
Palladium | 0.08%
Platinum | 0.32%
Rhodium | 0.29%
Light Elements | 47.18%

Wet Chemistry

A wet chemistry analysis revealed these metals or elements too:

Cobalt
Ruthenium
Osmium
Rhodium
Lead
Magnesium

30th Jun 2023 19:03 UTCHaris Khan

00012530017057119468829.jpg
It does attract a ceramic magnet too.

30th Jun 2023 19:05 UTCHaris Khan

00055960017057119495917.jpg
It has regmaglypts too.

30th Jun 2023 19:19 UTCHaris Khan

Polished slice in the sunlight.

30th Jun 2023 19:32 UTCHaris Khan

Polished slice under the studio lighting.

30th Jun 2023 20:23 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

The high tin content seems incongruous.

1st Jul 2023 01:27 UTCHaris Khan

I will get another XRF analysis from a different lab.

1st Jul 2023 10:06 UTCVincent De Mello

The tin may be unusual but you cannot say this has never been found in meteorites. How do you account for the concentrations of the other elements? These are certainly not incongruous. The tin is either due to a contaminated lab probe or this really is part of a meteorite.

2nd Jul 2023 06:37 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

You can find almost any element in meteorites if analysed precisely enough, but these values are extraordinarily high.

30th Jun 2023 23:13 UTCKeith Compton 🌟 Manager

I can guarantee that the specimen shown on your fingers does not weigh 4.4 kg.

1st Jul 2023 00:54 UTCHaris Khan

The specimen on the fingers is barely 5 - 6 grams. I mentioned the entire rock weight from where I cut and polished that specimen.

30th Jun 2023 23:59 UTCDon Windeler

Just to ask the question... how do you know it is a meteorite?  MinDat does not identify meteorites -- just asking if it's Meteorite A or Meteorite B doesn't eliminate C - Not A Meteorite.

I'm no expert, so if this is a documented fall and those who would know better agree this in line with the same I'll shut up and sit chastened in the corner (and learn something new!), but I'm just raising the site guideline flag.

Cheers,
D.

1st Jul 2023 06:55 UTCHaris Khan

I used Google Lens and ChatGPT, which suggested it is similar to NWA 4931 https://images.app.goo.gl/UujomFELevB7hboN9

Unfortunately, I don't have any lab or institute in my country which can perform research on this rock or certify it as a meteorite.

I coordinated with some geologists, and they have ruled out this rock being terrestrial.

1st Jul 2023 05:25 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

You may mean a Ureilite?
The analysis is totally bizarre in too many ways, unless something synthetic; you need to try it again.

1st Jul 2023 06:44 UTCHaris Khan

Yes, it was a typo. I have corrected it.

What do you think this rock is based on images, videos, and the XRF report that I have uploaded?

A terrestrial rock, mineral, ore, or man-made object?

1st Jul 2023 07:07 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

It looks a bit like a pyroxenite, but if the XRF analysis is vaguely real it’s something artificial

1st Jul 2023 07:36 UTCHaris Khan

09750980017057119519537.jpg
Here is the actual XRF report.

1st Jul 2023 07:42 UTCHaris Khan

I told them purposely that it is an ore, as mentioned in the report. The slice in my hand was given for the XRF analysis.

1st Jul 2023 10:04 UTCVincent De Mello

Ralph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager  ✉️

pyroxenite
 Pyroxenite is not magnetic, how do you account for the fact that this rock is magnetic?

2nd Jul 2023 06:34 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

Pyroxenites can be rich in magnetite, especially if mineralised.

1st Jul 2023 08:20 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Haris, I don't want to be a pain between the toes but lately we had a disussion on ChatGPT.

Another thing is that the website mahmoodxrf is blocked by Firefox because it can contain hazardous content so I can not check. I would like to know what the " light element " is. A chemical lab does not leave 47.18%, almost half of the weight of your rock, unidentified.

And as Don said, we are not able to identifie meteorites.

Finally, I agree with him that this does not look like a meteorite. More and oxidized iron containing sandstone, hence the iron and silicon. As Alfredo points out, the tin is strange as well as the Pt, Pd and Rh values. But the lab ( see header of the letter ) is specialised in these elements, it's possible that it is pollution of the probe.

Keep safe.

1st Jul 2023 09:03 UTCRalph S Bottrill 🌟 Manager

The “light elements” total is what is reported by a portable XRF analyser for all elements lighter than Mg, usually mostly oxygen, which cannot be measured with any accuracy. It usually ranges between 30-60% depending on the rock or ore, and it’s surface, calibrations etc. 
It could be a Cu-Ni sulphide ore in an ultramafic rock, though no S is reported, and Sn and Pb would be strange in these, and the PGE way too high to be credible. Could be an old machine with calibration issues?  Though I see no sign of metallic grains?

1st Jul 2023 09:00 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Considering the emphasis placed on karats in the lab report, this is probably a lab specialized in analyzing gold for jewelry and their machine is poorly calibrated for the other elements.

1st Jul 2023 09:06 UTCJean-Louis O.

Indeed, it says " Shop#1, Madina Gold Center".
Does not sound like a credible lab to me.

1st Jul 2023 09:50 UTCHaris Khan

Yes, they are specialized in gold and silver for jewelry.

1st Jul 2023 10:03 UTCVincent De Mello

All comments seem to respond to the analysis reports, but what about the evidence shown in the images where you can see regmaglypts, flow lines and fusion crust?

1st Jul 2023 10:38 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Vincent, I don't see anything on the photos that could be definitively interpreted as regmaglypts (rather than just differential weathering pits), flow lines, or fusion crust (which looks more like a weathering crust than a fusion crust). Meteorites are hard enough to identify even with a physical specimen in the hand, and completely hopeless from a photograph, so we shouldn't even be wasting our time discussing this. I cannot say that it is not a meteorite, but I think the chances of it being a weathered basic igneous rock are more probable.

1st Jul 2023 10:52 UTCVincent De Mello

Do basic igneous rocks contain rare earth elements?

1st Jul 2023 10:54 UTCVincent De Mello

Also, igneous rocks, usually have porous holes, which is not the case here.

1st Jul 2023 11:54 UTCFranz Bernhard Expert

Sure, every rock is porous to some degree. But visible pores are not that usual in many igneous rocks.

1st Jul 2023 11:55 UTCFranz Bernhard Expert

Every rock contains REE. At least traces.

2nd Jul 2023 05:37 UTCHaris Khan

04612080017057119555499.jpg
Here is a comparatively bigger slice with a less polished surface.

3rd Oct 2023 17:30 UTCJason Utas

The reflective grains in this photo are metallic, but too dull to be iron.  They are hematite or magnetite.  It is a terrestrial rock. 

The tin and PGE abundances in your analyses are also far too high for the specimen to be a meteorite.  If it actually contained ~0.3% platinum and rhodium, you would have just discovered one of the richest PGE deposits known in the world.  However, it makes more sense to assume those figures are due to a bad analysis.  

Either way, the specimen looks like a typical gabbro and is terrestrial.  

1st Jul 2023 11:52 UTCFranz Bernhard Expert

This XRF analysis is calibrated for the usual technology metals.
Sn comes from K and Ca, just wrong peak attribution (K and Ca K-lines overlap with Sn L-lines).
Franz Bernhard

2nd Jul 2023 03:33 UTCDemetrius Pohl Expert

I agree, poorly calibrated and uncorrected XRF analyses give spurious and unreliable results. Around 1992 unscrupulous labs  were reporting astonishingly high Au, Pt and Ru values from barren rhyolites in Nevada (around the time of the the Round Mountain discovery). High Al-Si rocks gave these spurious values  for gold and PGMs when uncorrected for the Si and Al content. A sample of the yellow paint strip taken from a highway reported >30 ppm Au and 12 ppm Pt. A scam to suck in the gullible. 

2nd Jul 2023 05:24 UTCHaris Khan

03198460017057119603340.jpg
Thank you, everyone, for your valuable feedback and input. It was really helpful and encouraging. I will get the sample analyzed from a reputable lab. Will also try to get a whole rock chemical analysis.

If it is a space rock or a terrestrial one, it doesn't matter. 

Special thanks to Paul, Ralph, and Alfredo for their valuable input regarding the XRF report.

Demetrius, I relied on their report because I tested a coin with their machine. And remarkably, it gave accurate information in the ED-XRF.

24.49% Nickel
75% Copper

2nd Jul 2023 07:34 UTCFranz Bernhard Expert

Thats´s what this machine is calibrated* for. For metals. Not for silicate rocks.

*It is quite easy to have multiply calibrations running on such machines. One and the same X-ray spectrum (!) can be evaluated with different calibrations: Silicate rocks, steel, base metals, precious metals etc. This is really important to catch minor elements properly with this method.
Unproper calibration gives mostly nonsense results, as we can see in this example.

Franz Bernhard

2nd Jul 2023 09:03 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Exacltly, as I pointed out above, the header of the document is clear. This is a metal lab.
But t be sure to have a reliable analysis, let it done by a certified meteorite lab. They specialise in this kind of rocks. And the result will be conclusive.

Keep safe.

3rd Oct 2023 20:55 UTCFrank K. Mazdab 🌟 Manager

Haris Khan  ✉️

Will also try to get a whole rock chemical analysis.
 Better than that, take one of those nice slices you showed above and have a polished thin section made... then you can identify each individual mineral and the overall texture, and if necessary still do micro-analysis on specific minerals. Terrestrial igneous rocks are notably distinct from their very rare (on earth) extraterrestrial relatives.
 
and/or  
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