JBILET WINSELWAN; A STEP TOWARD UNDERSTANDING THE COMPOSITION OF C-TYPE ASTEROIDS

The Jbilet Winselwan meteorite, found in Morocco in 2013, is a member of a relatively little studied, yet exceedingly interesting, class of extraterrestrial rocks. Mighei-like Carbonaceous chondrites (CMs) have been spectrally correlated to C-type asteroids, which includes more than 75 percent of known bodies. CM chondrites represent tangible samples that can be used to greatly increase our understanding of the composition, both chemical and physical, of a large portion of the extraterrestrial bodies in our solar system. As a relatively new CM chondrite, a thorough petrologic and geochemical analysis of Jbilet Winselwan will provide much needed information to an important member of the family. We will report preliminary mineralogical, petrological, and geochemical characteristics of two aliquots of Jbilet Winselwan. Detailed photomicrograph mosaics have been collected using a standard petrographic microscope at Western Carolina University (WCU); elemental X-ray maps have been collected using the Electron Microrpobe at the Southeastern North Carolina Regional Microanalytical and Imaging Consortium located at Fayetteville State University. These maps will provide necessary information to fully characterize the sample and its parent body, as well as specific formation conditions such as degree of alteration and cooling rate. In addition, these maps will constrain (1) percentages and types of dominant minerals, chondrules, and CAIs, (2) regions of interest for further detailed compositional work, and (3) areas of terrestrial contamination. Bulk rock compositions will soon be quantified using the ICP-OES in the Chemistry and Physics Department at WCU, which will allow us to compare Jbilet Winselwan’s composition to a broad range of other meteorites, both within and outside of the CM class, and possibly strengthen the link between CM and CO chondrites. Preliminary characterization suggests that this sample of Jbilet may have experienced less shock than other samples of the same meteorite.