Meteorite That Recently Fell in Somalia Turns Out to Contain Two Minerals Never Before Seen on Earth

The Hoba meteorite in Namibia, the largest intact meteorite known. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

At least two minerals found in a massive meteorite that fell in Somalia in 2020 are unprecedented on Earth. According to a press release, scientists at the University of Alberta have identified the minerals.

Only a small percentage of the tons of space material that enter the Earth's atmosphere each day make it to the ground. Instead, because they ablate due to friction with the atmosphere, they usually burn up instantly from the outside in.

Because of this, very few huge meteorites make it to the earth's surface; the one that fell close to the Somali town of El Ali is unquestionably an exception. With a weight of 16.5 tons (15 tonnes), the cosmic fragment is the ninth-largest meteorite ever discovered.

The  15-ton El Ali meteorite found in Somalia is the ninth-largest meteorite ever found. Image credit: University of Alberta

Two minerals that are not present on Earth were discovered by experts when a little fragment of the meteorite, weighing roughly 2.5 ounces (70 grams), was sent to the University of Alberta for categorization.

Chris Herd, a professor in the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and curator of the University of Alberta's Meteorite Collection, stated that "any new mineral discovery indicates that the actual geological conditions, the chemistry of the rock, was different than what has been found previously." "This meteorite is exciting because it contains two newly discovered minerals that have been officially described."

Confirming the presence of a new mineral generally requires a significant amount of labor, but in this instance, the two minerals found had previously been produced synthetically. The team was able to swiftly verify their discovery by matching their compositions in this manner. Their presence in the meteorite was also confirmed by preliminary examination conducted by the University of Alberta's Electron Microprobe Laboratory.

Elaliite and Elkinstantonite are the names given to the two recently found minerals. While the second mineral was named in honor of professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton, chief investigator of NASA's planned Psyche project, the first mineral was named after the meteorite itself.

Scientists would need a bigger piece of the meteorite to be able to carry on researching the meteorite’s composition. Image credit: University of Alberta

The closest parallel we have is iron meteorites, Herd continued. "Lindy has done a lot of work on how the cores of planets form, how these iron-nickel cores form." "Therefore, it was logical to honor her scientific contributions by naming a mineral after her."

The presence of a third new mineral that is being considered can only be verified after additional analysis is finished. This is interesting. "There's a chance that even more might be found if researchers were to obtain more samples from the massive meteorite," Herd said.

However, given the El Ali meteorite has supposedly already been relocated to China for sale, it is unlikely to happen anytime soon.  It's unclear if a prospective customer would consent to further samples being collected for research.