Meteorite Jikharra 001 – Libya

Jikharra 001 is a stony meteorite found in northeastern Libya in 2022. It is a HED-type achondrite, specifically a eucritic melt breccia. The total mass of the fragments found exceeds 2.5 tonnes, making this find one of the largest known eucritic meteorites.

The Jikharra 001 meteorite is composed of lithic fragments of plagioclase and pyroxene that are bound in a melt matrix formed by shock melting. These minerals provide valuable information about the geological processes on the asteroid 4 Vesta, which is thought to be the source of most eucritic meteorites. Asteroid Vesta is the second largest object in the main asteroid belt of our solar system, and has been hit by a series of large impacts throughout its history, ejecting material from its surface into space. These events created craters on Vesta, some of which are clearly visible thanks to space probes.

The eucrites are particularly interesting because they are thought to be igneous rocks similar to those found on Earth. They are composed mostly of basalt or gabbro, which are igneous rocks. They contain minerals such as plagioclase and pyroxene. Together with diogenites and howardites, they form a group of meteorites known as HED meteorites, named after their main types (Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite).