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The Dhajala meteorite1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

S. P. Das Gupta
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of India, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Calcutta—700 016
P. R. Sen Gupta
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of India, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Calcutta—700 016
A. Dube
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of India, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Calcutta—700 016
N. R. Sen Gupta
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of India, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Calcutta—700 016
D. R. Das Gupta
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of India, 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Calcutta—700 016

Summary

The Dhajala meteorite shower, the latest recorded fall in India, comprises pieces fragmented near the lower limit of the break-up zone. The meteorite is a chondrite consisting of silica-rich chondrules making up to 34 vol.%, and fine-grained, Fe-Ni metal-rich groundmass admixed with a few irregular lithic fragments. Dhajala contains olivine of variable compositions, ortho- and clinopyroxenes, troilite, kamacite, taenite, chromite, and clear to opaque glass; magnetite occurs only in the fusion crust. The chondrules, which are of variable shape, mineral composition, and texture, represent different stages of quenching, leading to incomplete crystallization of minerals and some degree of disparity between norm and mode. Lithophile elements are less in Dhajala than in average chondrites. Two chemical analyses of Dhajala are presented and it has 27·10% total iron and 2·38 % sulphur (maximum). Chemical and petrological data indicate that it is an H3 olivine-bronzite chondrite. Evidence for the crystallization of chondrules from melt is overwhelming. Some chondrules have been permeated by later troilite and NiFe from the groundmass, which might have crystallized directly from a gaseous environment.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1978

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References

Sen Gupta, (N.R.) and Chowdhury, (A.N.), 1974. Z.anal.Chem. 268 32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen Gupta, (N.R.) and Chowdhury, (A.N.), 1976. J.Indian Chem.Soc. 53, 710.Google Scholar