H/L5
Purchased before 2005
no coordinates recorded
A single 45 g stone was found in Northwest Africa and sold in Erfoud, Morocco to a collector. A sample was submitted for analysis and classification to Northern Arizona University (T. Bunch), and Planetary Studies Foundation (P. Sipiera). Northwest Africa 3330 was determined to be a chondrite with anomalous fayalite (Fa21.8) and ferrosilite (Fs18.8) ranges, and was assigned to the transitional H/L chondrite group. The H/L group comprises a couple of dozen members, most of which might represent a distinct ordinary chondrite parent body. Northwest Africa 3330 is either a representative of this distinct parent body, or alternatively, it could indicate that the Fa and Fs ranges for the H and L parent bodies need to be extended. The potential identification of other chemical and petrographic characteristics inconsistent with those of the H and L parent bodies would help settle this question.
ORDINARY CHONDRITE COMPOSITIONS
Group
Fa
Fs
F
–1.09–6.06 (~10–11*)
–3.48–19.86 (~11.6*)
H
16.66–20.26
14.51–18.22
H/L
19.5–21.8
17.2–21.2
L
22.37–26.49
18.80–22.82
L/LL
25.5–26.5
—
LL
25.46–32.69
20.74–27.34
*Chug Chug 019; Yamaguchi et al., 2019
H/L chondrite ranges derived from published values for equilibrated H/L members
F, H, L, and LL chondrite ranges derived from Kirby et al., (2025)
A petrologic type of 5 was assigned to this meteorite, a rare type currently shared by only seven other transitional H/L chondrites. Northwest Africa 3330 has been shocked to stage S2 and has experienced terrestrial weathering consistent with grade W3. The specimen of NWA 3330 shown above is a 1.26 g partial slice.
