A group of sixty-nine small, paired stone fragments, with a combined weight of 745.5 g, were recovered in the Sahara Desert by a Moroccan hunter. Further searches of the area have yielded no additional fragments. All of these fragments were subsequently purchased by H. Strufe, and a sample was submitted for analysis to the Museum für Naturkunde, Humboldt University, Berlin, (A. Greshake). Northwest Africa 4025 was classified as a rare bencubbinite (CBa).
Northwest Africa 4025 exhibits very close similarities to the type specimen Bencubbin, and has a shock stage of S3 and a weathering grade of W2/3. A visual comparison was conducted between specimens of NWA 4025 and the previously found Saharan CBa chondrite, NWA 1814; it was clearly demonstrated that they are not paired. Northwest Africa 4025 closely resembles the Bencubbin meteorite, while NWA 1814 manifests some characteristics of the CBa chondrite Gujba. Moreover, The degree of terrestrial alteration on the outer surface of NWA 4025 is generally higher than that on NWA 1814. An O-isotopic analysis indicates that a close relationship exists between this bencubbinite and the CH chondrites.
The CB, CH, and CR chondrites constitute the CR clan, comprising groups which likely formed in the same isotopic reservoir under similar conditions in the solar nebula; current evidence argues for an origin of the metal-rich carbonaceous chondrites in a common collision between planetary embryos (Krot et al., 2009). More detailed information about the formation of the bencubbinites can be found on the Bencubbin and Isheyevo pages. The specimen of NWA 4025 shown above is a 7.6 g prepared end section (half individual). Pictured below are two of the sixty-nine individual fragments constituting this meteorite.
