A preliminary processing of Yamato-79 meteorites

About 3300 meteorites were collected in the area surrounding the Yamato Mountains, East Antarctica in the 1979-1980 season. About 1000 meteorites were numbered, weighed, measured and photographed, among which 500 specimens were classified by the Preliminary Examination Team into 9 eucrites, 3 diogenites, 6 carbonaceous chondrites, and many ordinary chondrites possibly including 19 unique specimens. Achondrites and carbonaceous chondrites are similar to the specimens that have been recovered from the same area in the past. This paper describes mainly physical features of the selected meteorites processed till March 1981,and describes their types based on preliminary classification by the Preliminary Examination Team of the Japanese Committee on Antarctic Meteorites and by foreign scientists.