HAXTUN

A 15.53 kg stone was found by Mr. Pat Kain 21 km SSE of Haxtun, Colorado while he was plowing a wheat field (Rubin and Krot, 1993). The three mineralogical classification parameters yield three different group assignments for Haxtun: olivine (Fa21.6) suggests H/L; low-Ca pyroxene (Fs17.8) suggests H; and cobalt in kamacite (7.5 mg/g) suggests L. Haxtun shares this intermediate, equilibrated H/L4 classification with Yamato 74645.

An upper limit to the average chondrule size in Haxtun was determined to be 0.85 mm, which is slightly larger than the average for H chondrites of 0.7 mm. Haxtun is highly weathered and belongs to shock stage S4. Very few meteorites have been assigned to this intermediate group, which now includes Famenin [3.8–3.9], Tieschitz [3.6], Bremervörde [3.9], Haxtun [4], Y-74645 [4], and Yamato 8424. Initial studies indicate that Dhofar 008 might also belong to this group. The specimen of Haxtun shown above is a 4.9 g slice, and the bottom image is an excellent petrographic thin section micrograph of Haxtun, shown courtesy of Peter Marmet.