Atacamaite

Originally discovered by Michael Warner and his son Michael while searching for meteorites in Chile’s Atacama desert in 2012. Atacamaites were then later extensively studied in 2013 by the teams of CEREGE (CNRS/Aix Marseille University), and Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, leading to the official announcement in the 77th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting (2014, Devouard et al. abstract). Independent finds were made by L. Labenne in 2014.

Atacamaites display a variety of splash-form shapes and a dull skin that can retain very fine details. Their probable impact age is 7 million years. To date, no source crater has been found but it is likely that the molten glass was ejected perhaps > 10 km from the impact site and dispersed over large surfaces.

Description modified from MPOD.