The Winona meteorite is a

primitive achondrite Primitive achondrites are a subdivision of meteorites. They are classified on the same rank (historically called "Class") and lying between chondrites and achondrites. They are called primitive because they are achondrites that have retained much ...

meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

. It is the type specimen and by far the largest meteorite of the

winonaite Winonaites are a group of primitive achondrite meteorites. Like all primitive achondrites, winonaites share similarities with chondrites and achondrites. They show signs of metamorphism, partial melting, brecciation and relic chondrules. Their c ...

group.

Discovery and naming

The Winona meteorite is named after Winona, Arizona. The meteorite is said to be discovered during an archaeological excavation of the

Sinagua The Sinagua were a pre-Columbian culture that occupied a large area in central Arizona from the Little Colorado River, near Flagstaff, Arizona, Flagstaff, to the Verde River, near Sedona, Arizona, Sedona, including the Verde Valley, area around ...

village

Elden Pueblo Elden Pueblo (Hopi language, Hopi: Pasiwvi) was a prehistoric Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American village at the foot of Mount Elden near Flagstaff, Arizona. The pueblo is considered part of a major trading system.

in September 1928. The Sinagua lived in the village between 1150 and 1275. The meteorite was said to be retrieved from the

cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...

of one of the rooms. In fact the meteorite was found at another

site and not in

A. L. Christenson "J. W. Simmons' account of the discovery of the Winona meteorite."''Meteorite''10(3):14-16, 2004 When the meteorite was removed from the cist it fell apart because it was badly weathered. The first description was made in 1929. The authors were of the opinion that the meteorite was too badly weathered to be accurately classified. They estimated that the meteorite was probably a

mesosiderite Mesosiderites are a class of stony–iron meteorites consisting of about equal parts of metallic nickel-iron and silicate. They are breccias with an irregular texture; silicates and metal occur often in lumps or pebbles as well as in fine-grained ...

Mineralogy

The meteorite consists of

enstatite Enstatite is a mineral; the magnesium endmember of the pyroxene silicate mineral series enstatite (MgSiO3) – ferrosilite (FeSiO3). The magnesium rich members of the solid solution series are common rock-forming minerals found in igneous and m ...

olivine The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron Silicate minerals, silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of Nesosilicates, nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle (Earth), upper mantle, it is a com ...

meteoric iron Meteoric iron, sometimes meteoritic iron, is a native metal and early-universe protoplanetary-disk remnant found in meteorites and made from the elements iron and nickel, mainly in the form of the mineral phases kamacite and taenite. Meteoric ...

plagioclase Plagioclase ( ) is a series of Silicate minerals#Tectosilicates, tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continu ...

troilite Troilite () is a rare iron sulfide mineral with the simple formula of FeS. It is the iron-rich endmember of the pyrrhotite group. Pyrrhotite has the formula Fe(1−x)S (x = 0 to 0.2) which is iron deficient. As troilite lacks the iron deficiency ...

. Accessory minerals include

alabandite Alabandite or alabandine, formerly known as ''manganese blende'' or ''bluemenbachite'' is a rarely occurring manganese sulfide mineral. It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system with the chemical composition Mn2+ S and develops commonly massiv ...

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of Hydroxide, OH−, Fluoride, F− and Chloride, Cl− ion, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of ...

chromite Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of Iron, FeChromium, Cr2Oxygen, O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The ...

daubréelite Daubréelite is a rare sulfide mineral. It crystallizes with Cubic crystal system, cubic symmetry and has chemical composition of Fe2+Cr3+2S4. It usually occurs as black platy aggregates. Naming and history Daubréelite was named after the Frenc ...

diopside Diopside is a monoclinic pyroxene mineral with composition . It forms complete solid solution series with hedenbergite () and augite, and partial solid solutions with orthopyroxene and pigeonite. It forms variably colored, but typically dull ...

graphite Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...

References

{{Meteorites by name Achondrite meteorites Meteorites found in the United States Geology of Arizona

Discovery and naming

Mineralogy

See also

References