A new carbon-rich ureilite from Morocco

The main objective of this study was to provide a preliminary analysis of the meteorite North West Africa (NWA) 12606 recently classified as ureilite, which was found in 2018 in Morocco, to unveil the possible presence of diamonds. The preliminary analysis of the surface of a meteorite fragment by scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS) and optical microscopy has shown that it mainly consisted of olivine, minor pyroxene and carbon phases possibly including carbon in the form of diamonds. The results achieved are preliminary to a further deeper study of this meteorite as the diamond origin in ureilites is still an open issue debated among the scientific community due to its significant implications for the sizes of early Solar System bodies. Graphic abstract