Meteorite Glossary - Letter S

Schreibersite:

A shiny-brittle iron-phosphide mineral found in iron meteorites. Slivery-white in color. It often occurs as long needles and is commonly seen ringing nodules of graphite.

Shattercone:

A peculiar texture imparted to rocks which have suffered impact shock. Shattercones resemble cones inside of cones like stacked paper cups. Often they will be found as mass of cones next to each other in a layer at crater sites.

Shergottite:

A rare sub-class of planetary (martian) achondrite. It is a basaltic igneous rock with plagioclase and pyroxene. The S in SNC type meteorites.

Shock Veins:

Veins of melted material that run through a meteorite. they are caused by shock induced melting and often follow preexisting fractures that were in the mass before the impact which caused the shock. They can be few in number or many which can resemble a spider's web. They are often glassy, often black but can be metallic.

Siderite:

The obsolete term used for iron meteorites. Commonly used prior to about 1950.

Siderolite:

The obsolete term used for mesosiderites or stony-iron meteorites.

Stishovite:

A high pressure mineral form of SiO2, formed by the pressure of an impact event. Now considered along with coesite to be nearly diagnostic for impact origin of suspect geologic formations.

Strewnfield:

The area on the ground surface that meteorites and fragments from a single fall are contained within. It has the same meaning as distribution ellipse, which puts emphasis on the fact that a strewnfield is often oval in shape. The largest specimens to be found are often at the end of longest flight. Thus direction for the entry of the meteoroid into the atmosphere can be roughly determined from the pattern in the strewnfield of recovered pieces.