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Accretion Desk: A 100% Vein in a Gao Individual

like to make up term for describing meteorites such as F2F as in Find to Fall (when an meteorite listed as a find might actually be a fall; or a Toolbox meteorite where the particular specimen was used as a tool of some sort before moving to a higher status in life, and even Meteorites 2.0 describing the meteorite collecting world post-NWA.

In this installment of the Accretion Desk, through pictures I am highlighting what I call a 100% Vein. In this case, there is a layer of iron that completely occupies one a section of this Gao and is visible in 100% of the specimen.



As you can see in the pair of half-individuals above, the metal vein runs through the entire piece cutting across both cut faces. 


 

 The exterior of this pair of half-indivduals shows the 100% Vein highly visible across the entire great circle of fusion crust.


 

 The 100% Vein is not a surface feature only, but actually represents a nickel-iron disk dividing this individual in half.



Transitioning from crust to matrix, the 100% Vein is clearly visible as it transitions across this 90 degree boundary.


Little treasures like this Gao show us that even when the proliferation of a locality has relegated specimens carrying the same name as thousands of others, each one is an important contribution to science and collection enhancement. This 100% Vein is a precious treat of space geology and solar system evolution, and I’m thankful that someone somewhere thought it interesting enough to pursue further before I got ahold of it.

 

Until next time….

 

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