Complete Listing of Antarctic Meteorites in the U.S. Collection
Last updated: December 2022
The complete listing of Antarctic meteorites in the U.S. collection is available in: USANTMET.XLS.
DESCRIPTION OF USANTMET.XLS
The US Antarctic Meteorite Collection is characterized through regular (twice a year) publication of the Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter, reporting close to 22,300 since 1978. Over that period of time, characterization of the collection has been a joint effort by the Smithsonian Institution and Johnson Space Center, with thin section descriptions provided by Brian Mason, Tim McCoy, Glenn Macpherson, Cari Corrigan, Linda Welzenbach, and many students and postdoctoral associates (C. Corrigan, G. Benedix, V. Reynolds, L. LaCroix, A. Gale, E. Bullock, P. Salyer, K. Cahill-Stockstill, A. Beck, N. Lunning), and meteorite hand samples described and curated by Betty Gabel, Trude King, Robbie Marlow, Rene Martinez, Carol Schwarz, Cecilia Satterwhite, Kathleen McBride, Don Bogard, John Annexstad, Marilyn Lindstrom, David Mittlefehldt, Roger Harrington, Mitch Haller, Rachel Funk, Kellye Pando, Curtis Calva, and Kevin Righter. USANTMET.XLS has been updated to include all of the data that appears in Table 2 of The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 76 [Meteoritics 29, 100-143, 1994] plus all of the specimens classified and published through the March 2021 issue of the Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter (AMN), v. 44, no. 1.
Initial descriptions of the US Antarctic meteorites were published in the Smithsonian Contributions to the Earth Sciences (see references note below - #10), as well as in the Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter. And a key issue of the Meteoritical Bulletin (vol. 76) describes some of the data compiled in USANTMET.XLS.
Meteorite classifications and pairings (up to 1993) were reviewed by teams including Roy Clarke and John Wasson (irons), Jerry Delaney, Marilyn Lindstrom and Glenn MacPherson (eucrites), Ralph Harvey, Marilyn Lindstrom and Tim McCoy (primitive achondrites), Alan Rubin, Derek Sears, Mike Weisberg and the author (enstatite chondrites), Greg Kallemeyn and Mike Zolensky (carbonaceous chondrites), Paul Warren, John Jones and Marty Prinz (ureilites), and Paul Benoit and Derek Sears (type-3 ordinary chondrites). Classification changes reflect literature published through 1993 November and unpublished data of the teams (assembled and edited by J.N. Grossman), as well as some new classifications (CB, Lun-G, Lun-M, Nak) updates made by K. Righter (March 2010) and any reclassifications announced through the Meteoritical Bulletin and/or Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter.
Listed are 1) names, 2) classifications, 3) masses, 4) degrees of weathering, 5) olivine and pyroxene compositions, 6) Al-26 activities, 7) natural thermoluminescence levels, 8) pairing information, 9) ice fields upon which the meteorites were found, and 10) bibliographic information, all sorted by sample name (specimens from 1976 to 1981 all have an "A" as the fourth character in the name; this was ignored in alphabetizing the list).
1) Name: The names of meteorites use the official three-letter abbreviations.
2) Class: Abbreviations are listed below. The symbol "~" appearing after a classification indicates that the entry appears in italics in the Bulletin. Meteorite classifications that appear in italics were changed from the last AMN reference, but only on the basis of being paired with another reclassified meteorite; at least one member of the pairing group is described on p.139 of the Meteoritical Bulletin vol. 76. Quotation marks are used to indicate classification schemes or identifiers that are not well-established in the literature. All Arabic numbers refer to petrologic types. Where two petrologic types are separated by a "/", the meteorite is a breccia composed of both types. Where types or classes are separated by a hyphen, the meteorite is intermediate between the two.
The term "anomalous" is used to identify meteorites that have most of the properties of the designated group but differ from other members in some significant way. The term "ungrouped" is used to identify meteorites that do not fit into any known groups.
Type-3 ordinary chondrites: All known metamorphic subtypes of type-3 ordinary chondrites are given. These data are from Sears et al. (1991) and D.W.G. Sears and P. Benoit, pers. comm. (1993), and are based on thermoluminescence sensitivity except for meteorites where the subtype is followed by the symbol "*" (these were set in bold italics in the Bulletin) (e.g., WIS91627, H3.7*). The latter are rough estimates by B. Mason published in AMN.
Eucrites: Thin sections of all eucrites have been re-examined by M. Lindstrom. In consultation with J. Delaney, D. Mittlefehldt, and G. MacPherson, the classification scheme has been revised. The present scheme divides them into Mg-rich eucrites (containing Mg-rich pyroxene unlike that in diogenites, cumulate-like compositions, variable textures), polymict eucrites (containing a wide range of textures and mineral compositions, some with Mg-rich or chondritic clasts), brecciated eucrites (containing a limited range of mineral compositions, and may be monomict breccias), and unbrecciated eucrites (which have igneous or metamorphic textures).
Ureilites: The classification of Antarctic ureilites was examined by P. Warren in consultation with M. Prinz and J. Jones. Because of their unusual properties, polymict ureilites and those bearing significant augite are identified in the table. Olivine compositions were updated primarily based on Goodrich (1992).
Brachinites: group recognized by Nehru et al. (1992) Meteoritics, vol. 27, no. 3, page 267. This name was added because there are several in the US collection.
CB: group recognized (e.g., Krot et al., MAPS 37, 1451-1490, 2002). This name was added because there are several in the US collection.
Nak: A nakhlite (MIL 03356) was added to the collection in 2004.
M-opx: ALH84001 is stil the only orthopyroxenite known from Mars, and this name is used instead of the previous "SNC" which is outdated.
R chondrites: Many Rumuruti-type chondrites have been found in the US collection, and this category has been added since the last summary (e.g., see paper of Schulze et al., 1994; Rubin and Kallemeyn, 1994; Bischoff et al., 1994; Meteoritics vol. 29, no. 2, 255-276).
Lunar meteorites: the first few lunar meteorites were brecciated anorthositic (Lun-A) and basaltic (Lun-B) material, but there are now unbrecciated lunar samples such as mare basalt (Lun-M) and gabbro (Lun-G), and and mixtures of basaltic and anorthositic material (Lun-AB), and these have been added as well.
| Abbreviation | Classification |
|---|---|
| Acap | Acapulcoite |
| Achon ungr | Achondrite ungrouped |
| Angr | Angrite |
| Aub | Aubrite |
| Brach | Brachinite |
| C | Carbonaceous chon. not yet grouped |
| CB | CB group carbonaceous chon. |
| CH | CH group carbonaceous chon. |
| CK | CK group carbonaceous chon. |
| CM | CM group carbonaceous chon. |
| CO | CO group carbonaceous chon. |
| CR | CR group carbonaceous chon |
| CV | CV group carbonaceous chon |
| Chon ungr | Ungrouped chondrite |
| E | Enstatite chondrite, not yet grouped |
| EH | EH group enstatite chondrite |
| EL | EL group enstatite chondrite |
| Diog | Diogenite |
| Eu | Eucrite |
| Eu "br" | Brecciated eucrite |
| Eu "mg" | Mg-rich eucrite |
| Eu "pm" | Polymict eucrite |
| Eu "ub" | Unbrecciated eucrite |
| H | H group ordinary chondrite |
| How | Howardite |
| IA,IAB | IAB group iron meteorite |
| IIA,IIAB,IIB | IIAB group iron meteorite |
| IIE | IIE group iron meteorite |
| IIIAB | IIIAB group iron meteorite |
| IIICD | IIICD group iron meteorite |
| IVA | IVA group iron meteorite |
| Iron | Iron meteorite |
| Iron ungr | Ungrouped iron meteorite |
| "Kak" | Kakangari-like chondrite [proposed grouplet] |
| L | L group ordinary chondrite |
| LL | LL group ordinary chondrite |
| Lod | Lodranite |
| Lun-A | Lunar: anorthositic breccia |
| Lun-B | Lunar: basaltic breccia |
| Lun-AB | Lunar: mixture of anorthositic and basaltic breccia |
| Lun-G | Lunar: gabbro |
| Lun-M | Lunar: mare basalt |
| M-opx | martian orthopyroxenite |
| Meso | Mesosiderite |
| Nak | Nakhlite |
| Pal | Pallasite |
| R | R group chondrite |
| Sherg | Shergottite |
| Ur | Ureilite |
| Ur "aug" | Augite-bearing ureilite |
| Ur "pm" | Polymict ureilite |
| Br | Brecciated |
| An | Anomalous |
| Ung | Ungrouped |
| FCr | Fusion crust |
3) Mass: Listed is the total recovered mass in grams. Note that 198 meteorites collected in the years 1977 and 1978 were divided with the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan, so an average of only 1/2 of the total recovered mass was deposited in the U.S. collection.
4) Weathering category: The column "weath" lists data from AMN: A = minor rustiness; B = moderate rustiness; C = severe rustiness, e = evaporite minerals visible to the naked eye.
5) Silicate composition: The columns %Fa and %Fs in the Bulletin give data for the mole percent of fayalite in olivine and the mole percent of ferrosilite in pyroxene, respectively, measured by electron microprobe, and taken from AMN. In USANTMET.XLS, two columns appear for each of these variables to account for cases in which a range of compositions was reported. If %Fa was listed as 10-20, then 10 appears in the first column and 20 in the second. If %Fa was listed simply as 10, then both columns contain 10.
6) Al-26 activity: All data are in dpm/kg (measured at Batelle Northwest by J. Wacker, J. Reeves and J. Evans) and are taken from the relevant AMN (there are no data reported after vol. 18, no. 2). Two columns in USANTMET.XLS contain these data. The first gives the value itself, and the second gives the absolute error.
7) Natural Thermoluminescence: The column NTL in the Bulletin gives data from AMN in krad at 250 deg C (measured at Univ. of Arkansas by D.W. Sears and co-workers). Two columns in USANTMET.XLS contain these data. The first gives the value itself, and the second gives the absolute error. There are no data reported in the AMN after vol. 24, no. 2).
8) Pairing: This column gives the pairings listed in AMN (except as footnoted in the Bulletin). For the primary member of each pairing group, a number indicating the size of the group is shown in parentheses. For all other members, the name of the primary member of the pairing group is listed without the place-name abbreviation; in all cases, the paired samples are from the same locations as the primary samples. Note that many pairings are tentative, and that the data in AMN may not reflect information on pairing published subsequently in the open literature.
9) Ice Fields: The column "Ice" shows references to the ice fields on which the meteorites were found. A blank in this column indicates that the collection area only has one ice field (e.g., all samples from the MacAlpine Hills [MAC]) or the ice field is not known. See table for abbreviations.
Abbreviations for Ice Fields
Allan Hills (ALH)
- a - Main
- b - Near Western
- c - Manhaul Bay
- d - Middle Western
- e - Far Western
- f - Far North
Elephant Moraine (EET)
- g - Main
- h - Northern Ice Patch
- i - Texas Bowl
- j - Meteorite City
- k - Blue Lagoon
- 13 - Shoodabin Icefield
Graves Nunataks (GRA)
- 3 - Lower Central
- 4 - Lower West Graves
- 5 - Upper West Graves
Grosvenor Mountains (GRO)
- 1 - Outer Cecily
- 2 - Inner Cecily
- 6 - Mt. Bumstead
- 7 - South Raymond
- 8 - A-1
Lewis Cliff (LEW)
- l - Upper Ice Tongue
- m - Near Meteorite Moraine
- n - Lower Ice Tongue
- o - South Lewis Cliff
- p - Meteorite Moraine
- q - S. Lewis Cliff Moraine
- r - Upper Walcott Névé
- s - Central Walcott Névé
Mt. Prestrud (PRE)
- 9 - Prestrud-Bjaaland Ice Tongue
- 10 - Upper Norway Glacier
Mt. Wisting (WSG)
- 11 - Upper Wisting
- 12 - Lower Wisting
Patuxent Range (PAT)
- t - Lekander Nunatak
- u - Brazitis Nunatak
- v - Main
- w - Mount Tolchin
Pecora Escarpment (PCA)
- x - Main
- y - Kink Bowl
- z - Cliff Bowl
- A - Halfway Icefield
- B - Northeast Stepp
- C - Damschroder
- D - North Forty
- E - Lulow Bowl
- X - Upper Lulow
Queen Alexandra Range (QUE)
- F - Goodwin Nunatak
- G - Gordon Valley
- ? - [Not Named]
- O - Central Nunataks Icefield
- P - Foggy Bottom Icefield
- Q - Foggy Bottom Moraine
- R - Foot Rot Flats
- S - Mare Meteoriticas
- T - Pwellam Icefield
- U - Round Bottom Moraine
- V - Scoraine Moraine
- W - Scoraine Moraine Icefield
- Y - Tails's End Icefield
- Z - Lunch Moraine
Thiel Mountains (TIL)
- H - Moulton Escarpment
- I - Davies Escarpment
Wisconsin Range (WIS)
- J - Spear Nunatak
- K - Strickland
- L - East Strickland
- M - 2250 North
- N - East Spear
10) References: Two reference columns appear in USANTMET.XLS. The first is a code of the type 6(2) showing the volume and issue number of AMN (vol. 6, no. 2, in this example) in which the most complete description of the meteorite is found. The other column designates articles in Smithsonian Contributions to Earth Sciences (SCES) in which the meteorite descriptions are published, specifically: a = SCES #23, p.12; b = SCES #24, p.19; c = SCES #24, p.49; d = SCES #26, p.23; e = SCES #26, p.49; f = SCES #26, p.55; g = SCES #28, p.29; h = SCES #28, p.61; i = SCES #28, p.103; j = SCES #30, p.17; and, k = SCES #30, p.37.