Meteorite Classification
On a Saturday in February 2019 I had the opportunity to visit different laboratories of the Institute of Geological Sciences of the University of Berne.
Some weeks before I've met Dev from India and Ake from Sweden in Berne. They bought some meteorite slices from me as a present for a graduating colleague of the University. Both worked for the University of Berne and were among other studies concerned with the classification of meteorites.
Thank you for given me a detailed and very interesting tour through the different labs of the Institute. This gave me a very detailed view on how fascinating and complex it is to identify and classify Meteorites and which hight tech and complex equipment is needed to get the right results.
Thank you guys !
They explained to me over several hours how classification of meteorites is carried out and with which high-precision devices a meteorite is examined. Below you see pictures and brief explanations of the individual laboratories.
At the University of Berne, Dr. Prof. Beda Hofmann, curator of the meteorite collection of the Natural History Museum in Berne classifies Meteorites too.
Next to others the unique and world famous Martian Meteorite NWA 8171 "Black Beauty" was classified at the University of Berne. Two individual stones of NWA 8171 are part of the collection of the Natural History Museum in Berne.
Institute of Geological
Sciences - Berne
MINERAL SEPARATION LAB
In the mineral separation lab crushed rocks are treated with various methods in order to separate or concentrate specific kinds of rock-forming minerals in different grain sizes. The equipment in this lab includes a magnetic separator, sieves, a binocular microscope and agate mortars.
OPTICAL LAB
The optical lab is the main microscope room open for thestaff and students at the institute. Here we can capture images through a petrographic (polarizing) microscope in reflected and transmitted light. Additional equipment in this room includes a luminescence microscope with an automated stage and an atom force probe. Petrographic microscopy is still today one of the most essential analytical methods used to identify minerals, study rock microstructures and to classify meteorites.
RAMAN MICROPROBE
The Raman and micro thermometry lab is equipped with a Raman spectrometer and additionally with microscope equipment used to analyze fluid inclusions in minerals at different temperatures. The Raman equipment works by focusing a laser beam at a sample in up to 100x magnification. The crystal/molecular structure of the analyzed sample causes a shift of wavelength in the incident laser which is characteristic and can be used to identify minerals and other molecular compounds.