The Fall, Recovery, Orbit, and Composition of the Tagish Lake Meteorite: A New Type of Carbonaceous Chondrite

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 290; no. 5490; pp. 320 - 325
• Main Authors: Brown, Peter G., Hildebrand, Alan R., Zolensky, Michael E., Grady, Monica, Clayton, Robert N., Mayeda, Toshiko K., Tagliaferri, Edward, Spalding, Richard, MacRae, Neil D., Hoffman, Eric L., Mittlefehldt, David W., Wacker, John F., Bird, J. Andrew, Campbell, Margaret D., Carpenter, Robert, Gingerich, Heather, Glatiotis, Michael, Greiner, Erika, Mazur, Michael J., Phil JA. Mc Causland, Plotkin, Howard, Mazur, Tina Rubak
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 13.10.2000; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Asteroids; Carbon; Carbon nanotubes; Carbonaceous chondrites; Chemical composition; Chondrites; Chondrites (Meteorites); Composition; Cooling; Cosmochemistry. Extraterrestrial geology; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Energy; Exact sciences and technology; Fireballs; Geology; Kinetics; Literary Devices; Meteorites; Meteorites. Tectites. Impactites; Meteoroids; Meteors & meteorites; Mineralogy; Motion; Organic Chemistry; Scientific Concepts; Canada; British Columbia; Tagish Lake; Canada, Yukon Terr., Tagish L; scanning electron microscopy; stable isotopes; meteorites; O-18; SEM data; chondrites; chemical analysis; rare earths; stony meteorites; mineral assemblages; carbonaceous chondrites; petrography; chemical composition
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.290.5490.320

The preatmospheric mass of the Tagish Lake meteoroid was about 200,000 kilograms. Its calculated orbit indicates affinity to the Apollo asteroids with a semimajor axis in the middle of the asteroid belt, consistent with a linkage to low-albedo C, D, and P type asteroids. The mineralogy, oxygen isotope, and bulk chemical composition of recovered samples of the Tagish Lake meteorite are intermediate between CM and CI meteorites. These data suggest that the Tagish Lake meteorite may be one of the most primitive solar system materials yet studied.