Fantastic New Chondrites, Achondrites, and Lunar Meteorites as the Result of Recent Meteorite Search Expeditions in Hot and Cold Deserts

Abstract

In the last 25 years thousands of new meteorites were recovered in the “cold deserts” of Antarctica and in the hot deserts of Australia, New Mexico, North Africa, and Oman. Based on the findings of many spectacular samples new meteorite classes could be defined. Considering the undifferentiated chondrites, the new class of the Rumuruti (R-) chondrites was established and the carbonaceous chondrites gained three more subgroups (CR-, CH-, and CK-chondrites). Also, among the achondrites new meteorite classes were defined in recent years (angrites, brachinites, and the primitive achondrite classes of acapulcoites, winonaites, and lodranites). Certainly, the most spectacular discovery among the cold and hot desert meteorites was the recognition of the Lunar meteorites. In addition, the number of Martian meteorites has been significantly increased based on successful meteorite search.