Meteorite Classifications at the University of Minnesota

Meteorite classifications are conducted at the UMN Probe Lab using our JEOL JXA8530F Plus electron probe microanalyzer. This technique quantitatively measures the composition of the sample in terms of individual elements. Lab manager Dr Jennifer Mitchell then works out which minerals are present and their exact composition, and also identifies any other key diagnostic features. 

Once classified, the type specimen is held in the UMin repository and the rest is returned to the owner. Type specimens are small pieces of the meteorite that are kept intact so that even if the rest of the meteorite is sold or destroyed for certain experiments, some of the meteorite is left as a record of it.