A group of Canadian researchers has announced that they have discovered two new minerals after analyzing a A 15-ton meteorite fell in Somalia, East Africa. A third mineral is still being studied by scholars.
Since the University of Alberta scientists used a 70 g sample of the meteorite, it is possible that other unknown components are present in it.
The space rock, the ninth largest ever found on the planet, was unearthed in a sparsely populated region of the country and contains several elements never before found in nature.
The meteorite is about 2 m wide and began to be studied in 2020, but for generations it has been the subject of songs and poems by shepherds of the Hiiraan region, where it is called “Nightfall”. Locals also sharpen their knives on the mineral’s surface.
According to university announcementthe minerals were named “elaliite” and “elkinstantonite” – in honor of the name of the meteor, called “El Ali”, and of researcher Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator of NASA’s Psyche mission.
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Chris Herd, a professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and curator of the collection, said in the statement that similar minerals had already been synthesized in laboratories in the 1980s but never found in nature.
“I never thought I would get involved in describing new minerals just by working on a meteorite,” Herd said.
Researchers would like larger chunks of the rock for analysis, but unconfirmed reports say it was taken to China, possibly to be prepared for a future auction.
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