Zu Produktinformationen springen
Angebotspreis
€54,00
Normaler Preis
€123,00
The Ivuna meteorite (CI1 classification) represents one of the most pristine and scientifically profound relics of the early Solar System available to researchers today. As the type specimen for the exceptionally rare CI group of carbonaceous chondrites, it stands apart from other meteorites due to its intense and pervasive aqueous alteration that occurred on its ancient parent asteroid shortly after the formation of the planets.Falling on December 16, 1938, near the village of Ivuna in what is now Tanzania (close to Lake Rukwa), this witnessed fall delivered approximately 705 grams of material, recovered soon after the event. The meteorite's composition is dominated by fine-grained, hydrated sheet silicates (primarily serpentine-group minerals and saponite), along with magnetite, carbonates, and sulfates—secondary phases that testify to prolonged interaction with liquid water at low temperatures (likely <150 °C) under relatively high water-to-rock ratios. Unlike many other carbonaceous chondrites, Ivuna shows minimal evidence of high-temperature chondrules or refractory inclusions, presenting instead an almost chondrule-free, matrix-dominated texture that closely approximates the primitive, unaltered bulk composition of the solar nebula in terms of major and refractory elements.This makes Ivuna meteorites extraordinarily valuable for several key areas of cosmochemistry and astrobiology:
- They serve as a near-pristine proxy for the volatile-rich building blocks from which the terrestrial planets (including Earth) accreted.
- Their high content of extraterrestrial water (up to ~20 wt% bound in minerals) and organic compounds provides critical insights into the delivery of water and prebiotic molecules to early Earth.
- Studies of Ivuna help constrain models of fluid-rock interactions on water-rich C-type asteroids, including recent sample-return targets like Bennu and Ryugu.
- As the least terrestrially contaminated CI1 specimen (with significant portions curated under inert atmosphere, notably at institutions such as the Natural History Museum in London and potentially related holdings in Vienna's NHM collection), it remains a benchmark for understanding both parent-body processes and the delicate preservation challenges of these friable, highly hydrated materials.