MARE METEORITICS

Name: Taza
Northwest Africa 859
Location: Morocco
Type: Ungrouped Plessitic Octahedrite

This very rare and beautiful iron was found in Morocco in 2000. Several thousand small pieces have been found, in sizes from less than a gram to an individual of ~70 kilos! This meteorite if quite fresh, and many pieces are flight oriented and covered in flow line and the remains of fresh blue-black fusion crust. Many thousands of new stony meteorites are being recovered from the hot desert regions of the World, new iron meteorite discoveries have proved to be very few and far between. One possible explanation for this might be due to the higher density of iron meteorites, causing the masses to remain hidden at greater depths in the continually shifting desert sands, with only a relatively small percentage of these irons being exposed by the action of the wind. Taza is one of just a small handful of iron meteorites that have come out of the deserts in recent years, and for that reason alone it's unusual - but, Taza has also been classified as a particularly rare type of anomalous plessitic iron meteorite that doesn't slot nicely into any current iron group. When cut and etched, it shows and absolutely beautiful needle like fine octahedrite pattern. Taza has been the familiar "dealers' name" for this plessite octahedrite, which is now more formally known by it's official title of NWA 859.

This meteorite was published in the Meteoritical Society Bulletin No. 86
Check out their web site at http://www.meteoriticalsociety.org/