NWA 14921 Meteorite with Shock Veins 21g Slice

OFFICIAL METEORITE NAME:  Northwest Africa 14921, Weight: 21 Size: 70.5 x 66.8-57.3 x 1.7mm

Abbreviation: NWA 14921
Observed fall: No
Year found: 2021
Country: (Northwest Africa)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Classification: Ordinary chondrite LS

Stunning Meteorite slice with excellent shock vains. This is 1 of 8674 approved meteorites from (Northwest Africa), The NWA in Meteorites labeled, stands for North Western African. These are meteorites discovered in the Saharan desert, usually Mauretania, Morocco, by Bedouin, Arab, Berber or Touareg nomads. They are usually stony and well preserved because of the desert climate in which they were found.

Meteorite shock stage is a measure of the degree of fracturing of the matrix of a common chondrite meteorite.^[1] Impacts on the parent body of a meteoroid can produce very large pressures. These pressures heat, melt and deform the rocks. This is called shock metamorphism. Meteorites are often given a rating from 1 to 6 showing the level of shock metamorphism. However, the degree of shock can vary within a meteorite on the scale of centimeters.^[2]

Smaller bodies colliding with one another would not have sufficiently great impact velocity to produce the pressures and temperatures required to produce shock effects, due to their lesser gravitational attraction for one another. High instantaneous pressures, in excess of 5 GPa (1 GPa = 10,000 atmospheres), are necessary to produce shock metamorphism.