New Material from, and a Reconsideration of, the Dalgaranga Meteorite and Crater, Western Australia

G. J. H. McCall
Geology Department, University of Western Australia; Honorary Associate, Western Australian Museum

Summary: Two small fragments of unpromising-looking ferruginous material, recovered from inside the Dalgaranga crater, near Mount Magnet, Western Australia, have been sectioned and, while one is largely composed of iron oxides and adds little to the record of this crater, the second fragment is one of the rare, predominantly stony ones reported by Nininger and Huss, and is sufficiently fresh for a thin section to be prepared. As far as is known no thin sections have been described of material from this crater. Microscopic study with transmitted light shows the stony material to be achondritic and to have affinities with the mesosiderites, and, in spite of the low nickel-iron content of this fragment, it seems preferable to regard it as representative of an iron-poor area within a mesosiderite than as true stony meteorite material. Although closely related to the howardites it cannot be classified with any known achondrite type because of the prominent olivine phenocrysts and it bears no resemblance at all to chondritic material. Mineralogical and petrographical details are described and illustrated, and the significance of this new evidence discussed. The origin of the crater is reconsidered.

Mineralogical Magazine; September 1965 v. 35; no. 271; p. 476-487; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1965.035.271.03
© 1965, The Mineralogical Society
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