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Bencubbinite CB

The meteorites of this newly designated group are named for their type specimen Bencubbin, which has been found in Australia in 1930. Only five meteorites constitute this group, plus one new member that has recently been found by our team: NWA 1814. There's only one witness fall for this familly: Gujba.

The bencubbinites are strange meteorites that contain more than 50% nickel-iron. If you consider this, they could be easily regarded as true stony-irons, but their mineralogical and chemical properties clearly put them into the clan of the carbonaceous chondrites, or more strictly speaking into the CR clan. Besides the free metal, they contain highly reduced silicates as well as armed chondrules similar to those found in the members of the CR group. Some members of the CB group also contain CAIs; e.g. the meteorite HaH 237 from Libya, which was previously classified as a metal-rich CH chondrite.

This shows the close relationship between the CH and CB chondrites, which are both members of the CR clan. It is probable that all members of this clan formed under different conditions in the same region of the primordial solar nebula, but it's also possible that they are all part of one and the same parent body. That being so, 2 Pallas, the second largest asteroid of our solar system, would be a prominent candidate to be the possible common source of the meteorites of this clan. At least the reflectance spectra of the CR chondrites seem to match the spectra of 2 Pallas quite closely suggesting that those meteorites might have been derived from this large asteroid through impact events. On the other hand the meteorites of the CR clan don't show too many signs of an impact history such as brecciation, shock-veins etc. so that they might have been derived from much smaller parent bodies which aren't to be identified that easily.

The bencubbinites have been divided into two petrologic subgroups, CB_a and CB_b, representing those with cm-sized metal and silicate chondrules (Bencubbin, Weatherford, Gujba and NWA 1814), and those with mm-sized chondrules (HaH 237 and QUE 94411), respectively

GUJBA, CB3_a Fell April 3,1984 11° 29' 30" N., 11° 39' 30" E. At 6:30 in the evening, a bright fireball approaching from the west was seen and heard by local residents. The cone-shaped mass that landed in a corn field near the village of Bogga Dingare in Yobe, Nigeria, was estimated to have weighed ~100 kg, but most of the mass was broken up into small pieces and lost. Gujba is the only fall among the bencubbinite group.
				40 X 30 X 20 mm 69 gr cut on two faces Price: SOLD
39 X 25 X 3 mm 10.58 gr polished slice price: SOLD

				48 X 46 X 4 mm 39.30 gr gr our best slice available!! has some fusion crust with bubbling, geant chondrules .... A Museum piece for the advanced collector Price: SOLD

38 X 25 X 3 mm SOLD 9.806 gr polished slice price: $950

				31 X 22 X 6 mm 14.64 gr a thick slice, interesting for who want to cut small pieces price: SOLD

38 X 25 X 2 mm 8.972 gr great polished slice SOLD price: $950

				45 X 42 X 4 mm 40.5 gr gr Our second best crusted slice price: SOLD

33 X 28 X 2 mm 8.9 gr polished slice, the best surface/weight ratio price: $900 SOLD

				10 X 6 X 6 mm 3.33 gr small cube price: $300

Bencubbin CB3_a Found July 30,1930 30° 45' S., 117° 47' E. A mass of 54 kg was found NW of Bencubbin, Western Australia, by Fred Hardwick while plowing his farm. A second paired mass of about 64.5 kg found in 1959 in nearby Mandinga. This is the type specimen for the CB familly !!


13 X 13 X 3 mm 3.192 gr nice square slice SOLD price: $400

				28 X 27 X 2 mm 7.450 gr polished slice, the best surface/weight ratio we have price: $900

27 X 15 X 3 mm 6.312 gr polished slice price: $720

				12 X 6 X 3 mm 1.58 gr interesting rectangular piece price: $170 SOLD

13 X 6 X 3 mm 1.274 gr the smallest piece we have SOLD price: $130

NWA 1814, CB3_a
				This is the remaining 119 gr main mass after cutting. This beauty is very similar to Bencubbin.... very low TKW, there won't be enough for all of you !!

25 X 18 X 16 mm 23.5 gr fusion crusted end cut... SOLD price: $ 3400

				23 X 18 X 12 mm 20.55 gr fusion crusted end cut... price: $ 3000

7 X 6 X 1 mm 0.278 gr has both metal and silicates SOLD price: $70

				6 X 4 mm 0.124 gr the smallest piece we have price: $ 45 SOLD

9 X 8 X 3 mm 0.534 gr Fusion crusted end cut has both metal and silicate SOLD price: $150

Historical Chondrites click here