A space rock found in Somalia has been found to contain at least two minerals that had only been produced artificially, with a third still under investigation.
Since these discoveries were made with a single sample of 70 grams (2.5 ounces ), it is very possible that we have barely scratched the surface of what the rock has to offer.
“Every time you find a new mineral, it means that the actual geological conditions, the chemistry of the rock , was unlike anything that had been found before,” Professor Chris Herd of the University of Alberta said in a statement.
Herd reported on his findings at the Space Exploration Symposium from the University of Alberta.
The presence of water and oxygen on Earth creates more ways in which the elements can come together to create minerals. As a result, the number we have found to have originated on Earth dwarfs those known to have formed in space. However, meteorites maintain their ability to surprise us, and the El Ali meteorite certainly is.
Herd found two new minerals, which he named elaliite and elkinstonite after the meteorite and Professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton, respectively. In addition to being Vice President of the Interplanetary Initiative at Arizona State University, Elkins-Tanton is Principal Investigator for the Psyche mission to explore the large, metal-rich asteroid.
“Lindy has done a lot of work on how how do the nuclei of planets form, how do these iron and nickel nuclei form, and the closest analogue we have is iron meteorites,” Herd said. “So it made sense to name a mineral after him and recognize his contributions to science.”
The El Ali meteorite is an iron rock, IAB, of which more than 550 are known. Consequently, Herd was particularly surprised to see something unknown when examining a slice.
Herd asked his colleague, Dr. Andrew Locock, to see what was going on. “The first day he did some analysis, he said, ‘You’ve got at least two new minerals in there,’” Herd said.
The fact that both elaliite and elkinstonite had been produced in laboratories meant that Locock was able to verify their presence relatively easily. Man-made substances do not have the same naming process as those found in nature, so the Herd names were accepted a month ago.
Locock has experience identifying new minerals, but Herd said his expertise lies in deciphering the history of an asteroid based on its composition. Finding new minerals complicates that, and it will take a while to figure out how the main body of the meteorite formed and why we haven’t seen these minerals elsewhere.
Humans have been using meteorite material al least since Tutankhamun forged an iron/nickel/cobalt dagger into one. Herd hopes that the elaliite, elkinstonite or other minerals found in the El Ali meteorite will eventually demonstrate practical value.
Although the Meteoritical Bulletin database lists the El Ali meteorite as 70 tons as found in 2020, that’s only when the world at large took notice of it. Locals told investigators that the stone was known as “Dusk” in the folklore of the Saar people, indicating that it had been observed landing.
It had been celebrated in song, poem, and dance for at least five generations and was used to sharpen knives. The meteorite is nearly 70 percent iron and nickel and is among the largest ever found.
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