干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Eleven fragments of the meteorite Almahata Sitta (AHS) have been analyzed for oxygen isotopes. The fragments were separately collected as individual stones from the meteorite’s linear strewn field in the Nubian Desert. Each of the fragments represents a sample of a different and distinct portion of asteroid 2008 TC(3). Ten of the fragments span the same range of values of delta 18O, delta 17O, and Delta 17O, and follow the same trend along the carbonaceous chondrite anhydrous minerals (CCAM) line as monomict and polymict members of the ureilite family of meteorites. The oxygen isotope composition of fragment #25 is consistent with its resemblance petrographically to an H5 ordinary chondrite. Our results demonstrate that a single small asteroidal parent body, asteroid 2008 TC(3), only 4 m in length, encompassed the entire range of variation in oxygen isotope compositions measured for monomict and polymict ureilites.