Camel Donga: A Eucrite with High Metal Content

The Camel Donga eucrite is unique since it contains about 2% metallic iron. Chemical composition, mineralogy, and noble gas contents of Camel Donga are, however, indistinguishable from other eucrites. The bulk iron content and the composition of the metal show that the Camel Donga metal was formed by reduction of FeO and FeS, probably through loss of S2 and SO2. Since coarse‐ and fine‐grained lithologies are affected it is likely that the reduction occurred after brecciation. The inhomogeneous distribution of metal suggests that reduction is limited to areas where sulfides were present. The fact that major parts of the meteorite still contain sulfides, in many cases associated with metal, indicates that the reduction process did not go to completion. A comparatively short heating period is suggested, perhaps in an ejecta blanket.