Aletai meteorite (Aletai iron meteorite; Xinjiang iron meteorite; Armanty iron meteorite; Akebulake iron meteorite; Ulasitai iron meteorite; Wuxilike iron meteorite), Qinghe Co. (Qinggil Co.; Chinggil Co.), Altay Prefecture (Aletai Prefecture), Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, Chinai

Regional Level Types
Aletai meteorite (Aletai iron meteorite; Xinjiang iron meteorite; Armanty iron meteorite; Akebulake iron meteorite; Ulasitai iron meteorite; Wuxilike iron meteorite)	Meteorite Fall Location
Qinghe Co. (Qinggil Co.; Chinggil Co.)	County
Altay Prefecture (Aletai Prefecture)	Prefecture
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture	Prefecture
Xinjiang	Autonomous Region
China	Country

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Iron meteorite (fragment), octahedrite (IIIE; Om)
Discovered in 2004; mass of 430 kg

The Ulasitai meteoritical mass consists mainly of kamacite (76 vol%) accompanied by taenite (10 vol%) and plessite (~10 vol%). Schreibersite is the most abundant of the minor phases which also include troilite, cohenite, and daubréelite. Ulasitai is a fragment of the enormous 20 ton Xinjiang (Armanty) iron which had been previously discovered about 130 km away. Both the larger mass and the Ulasitai mass are marked by very distinctive siderophile abundances making Xinjiang (Armanty) members of the very small group of IIIE irons with only 15 members

At the official website for the Meteoritical Society, the name "Ulasitai meteorite" was discredited as a proper (unique) name once Ulasitai was shown to be paired with the Xinjiang (Armanty) iron meteorite. Cf. Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 95 (2009). There appears to be a preference for the name 'Xinjiang' in the Chinese literature, but the name 'Armanty' was adapted in Western scientific literature so that both synonyms appear in the literature today.

see:
Official name: Aletai (Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 105, 27 Nov 2016)
Synonymes: Armanty, Akebulake, Ulasitai, Wuxilike, Xinjiang (b), Xinjiang 008
Observed fall: no
Coordinates: 45°52'16"N, 90°30'17"E (these coordinates correspond to the corrected location at which the Armanty mass was discovered)
Approx. recovered weight: >50 t
Iron meteorite, IIIE

Chemical and petrographic analyses of multiple iron meteorite masses found in the northern part of Xinjiang, indicate pairing of these masses with the
Aramanty (IIIE) iron. All of these iron meteorites carry now the official name "Aletai", from the name of the prefecture. The other names are now abolished and become synonyms for Aletai.

Aletai is an anomalous IIIE. It has the highest Au concentration (1.810-1.894 µg/g) in the group, and its Ir concentration (0.228-0.235 µg/g) is much higher than that inferred through the trend of the other group members.

Known masses of Aletai:
- Aramanty, 28 t, discovered in 1898 (45°52.272', 90°30.279);
- Akebulake, 18 t, discovered in 2011 (48°6.25', 88°16.57');
- Wuxilike (was given the provisional name Xinjiang 008), 5 t (48°3.13', 88°22.32')
- Ulasitai, 0.43 t, discovered in 2004 (44°57'24", 91°24'09");
- Xinjiang (b), 35 kg, discovered in 2005 (47°58.7', 88°13.1');
- Unnamed, 15 kg, found in the Xiaodonggou region close to the place where Wuxilike and Akebulake were found.

Mineral List

9 valid minerals.

Meteorite/Rock Types Recorded