Hedjaz meteorite (Et-tlahi), Tabuk Region, Saudi Arabiai

Regional Level Types
Hedjaz meteorite (Et-tlahi)	- not defined -
Tabuk Region	Region
Saudi Arabia	Country

Ordinary chondrite, unequilibrated & brecciated (L3.7-6, br.)
Fell, Autumn 1910; 6.1 kg, 4 stones

The oddities of the chondritic stone which fell during the night nearly a century ago have, so to speak, only slowly come to light. The primary constituents of the Hedjaz meteorite are normal ingredients of the L chondrites — the olivine and/or pyroxene-rich chondrules are prominent and usually distinct. And, within both chondrules and matrix are the usual ingredients — olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase, troilite, kamacite, and taenite — expected in any moderately large, unweathered chondrite fall. Small amounts of accessory chromite, merrillite, and ilmenite are present as well. The olivine is mostly equilibrated, but the pyroxene is much more variable and small amounts of glass are present. The latter features are those we find in unequilibrated chondrites. But Hedjaz is not a normal unequilibrated chondrite which has never experienced substantial metamorphism. Unincorporated, unequilibrated, even exotic inclusions are found — but next to the unmetamorphosed materials are equally prominent partially to fully equilibrated clasts with L4, L5, and L6 lithologies. Textures and variability of the Fe-Ni metal is equally prominent — kamacite and taenite occur separately, together, and occasionally with troilite. Dark veins and other shock features are striking. Being, perhaps, somewhat more precise than the usual standard terminology, we might say that Hedjaz is a brecciated mixture of unequilibrated, partially equilibrated, and equilibrated L chondrite chondrules and clasts.

Among the 44 witnessed unequilibrated ordinary chondrite falls, only Hedjaz is labelled specifically as an L3.7—6. Indeed, no other meteorite — fall or find — is classified as L3.7—6. Among the total 2508 recovered unequilibrated ordinary chondrites only Asuka 880956 — listed as an H3.7-6 — appears to have such a wide, but yet specifically limited range of the unequilibrated and the equilibrated.

The main Hedjaz mass has been at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

Nota bene: The geographical coordinates provided by the Meteoritical Bulletin Database are over the waters of the Red Sea.

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