4.5-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Yields New Mineral

A 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite from northwest Africa has yielded one of the earliest minerals of the solar system.  Officially called krotite, the mineral had never been found in nature before, though it is a man-made constituent of some high-temperature concrete, according to study researcher Anthony Kampf, curator of Mineral Sciences at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM). [Image of new mineral] "This is one that simply was not known in nature until we found it here," Kampf told LiveScience. "That's pretty dramatic."  The meteorite containing krotite is called NWA 1934 CV3 carbonaceous chondrite. Chondrites are primitive meteorites that scientists think were remnants shed from the original building blocks of planets. Most meteorites found on Earth fit into this group.  link