Abstract
Abstract In the study of the Chelyabinsk meteorite fragment various non-destructive neutron methods, such as prompt gamma-ray activation analysis and neutron diffraction texture analysis were used. These methods are realized by the special spectrometers which are operating at the neutron beams of the IBR-2 pulsed reactor (Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia). Applying prompt gamma-ray activation analysis, mass fractions of 15 elements: Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni were determined. The fragment surface was analyzed by the X-ray fluorescence. The data obtained are in agreement with previously published ones, as well as with the results of texture analysis. For the first time the detailed quantitative texture analysis of Chelyabinsk meteorite fragment was performed. The method provides to obtain preferred orientations of main minerals of meteorite fragment. A suggestion was made regarding the origin of texture as a result of thermobaric impact of the meteorite when it enters the Earth’s atmosphere.