Two New Minerals Discovered in the 9th Largest Meteorite to Hit our Planet

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Researchers discovered two minerals from a 15-tonne meteorite found in Somalia that have never been seen on our planet before.

The minerals were extracted from a single 70-gram slice which was sent to the University of Alberta’s Meteorite collection for classification. In fact, there also already appears to be a third mineral that’s potentially under consideration. 

If more samples are obtained, even more materials could be discovered, claims Chris Herd, a professor from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences as well as curator at the University of Alberta’s Meteorite Collection.

The two newly discovered minerals have been named elaliite (named after the meteor El Ali  that was found in the town of El Ali, in the Hiiraan region of Somalia) and elkinstantonite (named after Lindy Elkins-Tanton, vice president of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative, professor at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration).