Nakhla 2
Collection:
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Fact sheet

Nakhla 2

The Nakhla meteorite landed at El Nakhla el Baharia in Egypt in 1911 (9 am in the morning of 28th June to be precise). About forty variable-sized pieces of the meteorite (up to 2 kg in weight) have since been recovered. Legend has it that one fragment of this meteorite hit a dog and immediately vapourised it.

The crystallization age of Nakhla has been determined to be 1.38 billion years.

Nakhla is an olivine-bearing, clinopyroxenite consisting mostly of augite with less abundant Fe-rich olivine, plagioclase, K-feldspar, Fe-Ti oxides, troilite, chalcopyrite and a hydrated alteration phase that resembles “iddingsite”. It has been proposed that secondary aqueous alteration of nakhlites may have occurred on Mars and hint of water being present on the surface of the planet in distant times.

Map
31.15, 30.35
Description:
Abu Hummus, Beheira Governorate, Egypt
Precision:
Moderate
About this collection

This collection of meteorites includes Shergottites, Nakhlites and Chassignites (or SNC meteorites) which originate from the surface of the planet Mars.

They carry unique signals of the surface of the planet that allows scientists to study the composition and age of Martian rocks. The collection includes a sample of the famous ALH84001 meteorite, evidence from which was used in 1996 to begin the debate of 'life on Mars?'. 

 

Sample details

Collection: Martian Meteorites
Type
meteorite
Category
Clinopyroxenite
Category guide  
Category Guide
Title
Refers to any word or phrase that appears in the individual rock names. Names are generally descriptive; they allow users to search for broad terms like ‘granite’ as well as more specific names such as ‘breccia’. However, the adjacent descriptions of the specimens captures a wider range of general words and phrases and is a more powerful search tool.
Description
Refers to any word or phrase that appears anywhere in the descriptions of the specimens
Accessory minerals
Minerals that occur in very low abundance in a rock. They are usually not visible with the naked eye and contribute perhapssver, they often dominate the rare elements such as platinum group metals.
Rock-forming minerals
Minerals that make up the bulk of all rock samples and are also the ones used in rock classi?cation.
Timescale
Selecting one or more period, for example 'Jurassic'.
Theme
A term used to group together related samples that are not already gathered into a single Collection. For instance, there is a ‘SW England granites’ theme that includes such rock types as granite, hydrothermal breccia, skarn and vein samples.
Category
A general term used to label a rock sample. It is a useful way of grouping similar samples throughout a collection. Category names are often, but not exclusively, common rock names (e.g. granite, basalt, dolerite, gabbro, greisen, skarn, gneiss, amphibolite, limestone, sandstone).
Owner
The owner of the sample that appears in the collection. For example, NASA owns all the samples that appear in the Moon Rocks collection
We would like to thank the following for the use of this sample: