The new minerals have been named elaliite and elkinstantonite. They were identified by Locock, head of the U of A’s electron microprobe laboratory, because each had been synthetically created before.

“These minerals have been synthesized in a lab by a group in France in the 1980s, so they were known to science in that regard,” Herd explained, “but it doesn’t get to be a called a new mineral until it’s found in nature.”

Elaliite is named after the meteorite itself because it was found near El Ali, in Somalia. Herd named the second mineral after Lindy Elkins-Tanton, a distinguished planetary scientist.