Two new minerals found in the ninth largest meteorite to ever strike the Earth 

The outer space is full of known and unknown objects that have fascinated humans for generations. One such celestial object is a meteorite, some of which have struck the Earth and even wreaked havoc throughout history. Recently, the ninth largest meteorite has landed in Somalia (unearthed in 2020). It weighs 1500 tonnes and is 2 metres wide. But why are we talking about it all of a sudden? Well, in recent turn of events, scientists have discovered two brand-new minerals and named them Elaliite and Elkinstantonite, while examining its remains.   

What’s interesting is that, the first mineral derives its name from the name of the meteorite itself, aka, El Ali, that in turn got its name from the Somalian town El Ali near the Hiiraan region where the meteorite had fallen. On the other hand, the second mineral got its name from the Vice President of Arizona State University named Lindy Elkins-Tanton who is currently overseeing NASA’s interplanetary mission called Psyche. It recognises her immense contribution to the field of geology.   

Okay, so what does this new discovery mean? It means that the composition of the meteorite, its original geological conditions need to be re-evaluated. Not only that, the exact content of the mineral present in the meteorite also needs to be accessed, considering only a 70-gram slice contained vast amounts of them. Moreover, there’s also hope of finding other unknown minerals. For this, more samples need to be analysed.  

The discovery was made by a team of geologists based at the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences of University of Alberta, USA in collaboration with U of A Electron Microprobe Laboratory, UCLA and the California Institute of Technology. This team had already classified the El Ali meteorite as an Iron, IAB complex and had previously found another new mineral in it called Heamanite.  

Wondering how this discovery was possible? Well, the two minerals did exist before, just not naturally. They were synthetically developed (in 1980s) as iron compounds in laboratories, which is why scientists were already on the lookout for them in the natural world and also knew its characteristics. 

Now, researchers are busy examining the minerals to figure out more about the meteorite itself, how it was formed and under what conditions it stuck the Earth. They are also experimenting with the nature of the minerals to determine its real-world uses.