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The Morven meteorite, an aerolite from South Canterbury, New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

C. O. Hutton
C. O. Hutton*
Affiliation:
Duffus Lubecki Research Scholar, University of Otago, New Zealand
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Extract

The meteoric stone to be described was found in 1925 by Mr. William Stewart while ploughing on his farm four-and-a-half miles south of the Morven railway station (44° 49' S., 171° 8' E.) in South Canterbury, about one hundred miles north-east of Dunedin, New Zealand. It must have weighed originally about 7100 grams, but when presented to the Otago University Museum it weighed 14lb. 14oz. (6753 grams), the remainder having been broken off by the finder. There is no local record of the fall, and the nature of the weathered crust suggests that it may have been in the soil for a long time.

The stone (fig: 1) is roughly pyramidal, measuring approximately 22.5 x 17.5 x 15.0 cm. It was covered with a thin, soft ochreous crust occasionally as much as 2-3 mm. thick.

Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical magazine and journal of the Mineralogical Society , Volume 24 , Issue 152 , March 1936 , pp. 265 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1936

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References

page 265 note 1 Lightfoot, B., Macgregor, A. M., and Golding, E., The meteoric stone seen to fall in the Mangwendi native reserve, Southern Rhodesia, on March 7, 1934. Min. Mag., 1935, vol. 24, pp. 1-12.Google Scholar

page 267 note 1 For example of this type of chondrule see Heineman, R. E. S., Petrography of the Roy, Harding County, New Mexico, meteorite. Amer. Min., 1935, vol. 20, p. 439 Google Scholar, fig. 3. [M.A. 6-104.]

page 268 note 1 Merrill, G. P., The composition and structure of meteorites. Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., 1930, no. 149, p. 57 Google Scholar. [M.A. 4-257.]

page 270 note 1 Lundell, G. E. F. and Knowles, H. B., The separation of iron and aluminium from manganese and certain other elements. Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1923, vol. 45, pp. 676-681.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 270 note 2 Mitchell, C. A., Recent advances in analytical chemistry, London, 1931, vol. 2, p. 272.Google Scholar

page 270 note 3 This solution was evaporated to dryness several times with concentrated hydrochloric acid, in order to free from nitrates, before precipitation with ammonia.

page 270 note 4 Copper, if present, would have been precipitated under the same conditions.

page 273 note 1 Doelter, C., Handbuch der Mineralehemie, 1914, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 292, 301.Google Scholar

page 274 note 1 For presence of manganese in orthorhombic pyroxenes see Farrington, O. C., Meteorites. Chicago, 1915, p. 173 Google Scholar.

page 274 note 2 Prior, G. T., The classification of meteorites. M1n. Mag., 19.90, vol. 19, pp. 51-63Google Scholar.

page 274 note 3 Data obtained from the British Museum Catalogue of Meteorites (1923) and appendix (1927) by G. T. Prior ; the symbols employed are those used in the museum catalogue.