Meteorites

Expeditions

The Mineralogical Museum Hamburg is active in meteorite searches. Initially the museums was involved in the very first meteorite search expeditions carried out in the Mongolian Gobi Desert (EUROMET, 1993) and the Sahara of the Repubic of Niger (GEO Magazine, 1997). From 2000 trough 2004 the museum organized several search expeditions into the Libyan Sahara in cooperation with Libyan institutions. In the Antarctic summer of 2007/2008, the first German meteorite expedition in the Queen Maud Region of East-Antarctica took place. This search has been initiated by the Mineralogical Museum Hamburg and was realized in cooperation with the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). In 2009 a meteorite search in the Rub' al Khali of the United Arab Emirates was carried out in cooperation with the Environmental Agency Abu Dhabi.

• Expedition Mongolei, 1993 - During August and September 1993 the southern part of the Mongolian Gobi Desert was crossed in the search for meteorites. The expedition in which German and Mongolian scientists took part, was financed by funds of the European Community (EUROMET). It turned out that the Mongolian desert does not have meteorite concentrations like the famous concentrations found in Sahara or the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. The work was therefore directed towards sampling, classifying and the scientific examination of all meteorites kept in Mongolian museums (e.g. Adzhi-Bogdo stone). In addition the Tabun Khara Obo impact crater was investigated.

• Expedition Niger, 1997 - During February and March 1997 the Mineralogical Museum Hamburg took part in a scientific expedition in the Republic of Niger. The expedition was financed by the German journal GEO (see GEO, July 1997, pp 12-51 and August 1997, pp 34-53). The participants of that journey first traversed the Aïr Mountains for petrological studies followed by a search for meteorites in the Ténéré du Tafassasset, a desert in the southern Sahara. 10 stony meteorites were found, including the rare EL4-5 enstatite chondrite GREIN 002 and an ordinary chondrite of 27 kg (Tiffa 001; H5).

• Expeditionen Libyen, 2000-2004 - Within two scientific projects, financed by the German Research Foundation, the Mineralogical Museum Hamburg could conduct several expeditions into the Central Sahara. In cooperation with the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry, Mainz and the Industrial Research Centre (IRC, Tripoli, Libya), the expeditions aimed to identify the processes leading to meteorite concentrations in hot deserts. Furthermore Libyan scientists were trained in meteorite sciences, and the many meteorites found were subsequently studied in cooperate scientific work.

• Expedition Antarktis, 2007/2008 - Initiated by the Mineralogcal Museum Hamburg, financed by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and supported by the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) an expedition took place in Queen Maud Land, Eastern Antarctica. It aimed to prove the theory that in Queen Maud Land meteorites can be found. The projects was successful, 16 stony meteorites and an iron meteorite (QMI 07009) of 31 kg were discovered.

• Expedition Vereinigte Arabische Emirate, 2009 - n February and March 2009 the Mineralogical Museum Hamburg in cooperation with the archaeologist H. Kallweit and a colleague from the Natural History Museum London and the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, carried out a meteorite search expedition in the Umm Az-Zamul region of the Rub' al Khali desert. In this formerly unknown meteorite find region 28 stony meteorites were found based on the active support of native scientists and rangers.

Examples of meteorites found during search expeditions of the museum.

Grein 002: A rare enstatite chondrite of class EL 4-5. The stony meteorite of 609 g was discovered on the 3rd of March, 1997, by a joint team from the magazine GEO, the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry, Mainz and the Mineralogical Museum of the University of Hamburg. It was found in the Ténéré du Tafassâsset, a part of Central Sahara in the Northeast of the Republic of Niger.

Dar al Gani 983: A polymict eucrite of 933 g. This achondrite was found in 2002 during a German-Libyan research expedition (Mineralogical Museum Hamburg and the Industrial Research Centre, Tripoli, Libya) in the very southern part of the Dar al Gani (Central Libya). It is a strongly shocked breccia, rich in maskelynite (feldspar glass). Parts of the meteorite surface still shows a shiny black fusion crust, which originated from the fiery passage of the meteorite through the Earth`s atmosphere.

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