The extremely reduced silicate‐bearing iron meteorite Northwest Africa 6583: Implications on the variety of the impact melt rocks of the IAB ‐complex parent body

Northwest Africa ( NWA ) 6583 is a silicate‐bearing iron meteorite with Ni = 18 wt%. The oxygen isotope composition of the silicates (∆′ 17 O = −0.439 ‰) indicates a genetic link with the IAB ‐complex. Other chemical, mineralogical, and textural features of NWA 6583 are consistent with classification as a new member of the IAB ‐complex. However, some unique features, e.g., the low Au content (1.13 μg g −1 ) and the extremely reducing conditions of formation (approximately −3.5 ∆IW), distinguish NWA 6583 from the known IAB ‐complex irons and extend the properties of this group of meteorites. The chemical and textural features of NWA 6583 can be ascribed to a genesis by impact melting on a parent body of chondritic composition. This model is also consistent with one of the most recent models for the genesis of the IAB ‐complex. Northwest Africa 6583 provides a further example of the wide lithological and mineralogical variety that impact melting could produce on the surface of a single asteroid, especially if characterized by an important compositional heterogeneity in space and time like a regolith.