Chassigny (meteorite)

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Chassigny meteorite
Chas3.jpg
Thin section of Chassigny under cross-polarized light (JPL)
Type Achondrite
Class Martian meteorite
Group Chassignite
Parent body Mars
Country France
Region Chassigny, Haute-Marne
Fall date 1815-10-03

Chassigny is a Mars meteorite which fell on October 3, 1815, at approximately 8:00 am, in Chassigny, Haute-Marne, France.[1][2] Chassigny is the meteorite for which the chassignites are named, and gives rise to the "C" in SNCs. Chassigny is an olivine cumulate rock (dunite). It consists almost entirely of olivine with intercumulous pyroxene, feldspar, and oxides. Chassigny was the only known chassignite until NWA2737 was found in the Moroccan Sahara in northwest Africa.[3]

Mars meteorite rock, in Vienna science Museum.

Chassigny is particularly important because, unlike most SNCs, it contains noble gas compositions different from the current Martian atmosphere. These differences are presumably due to its cumulate (mantle-derived) nature.[4]

See also

References

  1. Pistollet (1816) The circumstances of the Chassigny meteorite shower. Ann. Chim. Phys. (Paris) v. 1, pg 45-48.
  2. "The Chassigny Meteorite" - From NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, stating it is the only example. URL accessed September 6, 2006.
  3. Beck P., Barret J. A., Gillet P., Franchi I.A., Greenwood R. C., Van De Moortele B., Reyard B., Bohn M. and Cotton J. (2005) The Diderot Meteorite, the second chassignite.Lunar and Planet. Sci. XXXVI, Abstract #1326.
  4. Mars Meteorite Compendium: Chassigny, Compiled by Charles Meyer.

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