**2. Stanfieldite in the Brahin Pallasite**

Brahin is a meteorite related to the main-group pallasites. It was first found in 1810 as two fragments (masses) of total weight ~80 kg at the Kaporenki village, Brahin district, Belarus. Since then, a few larger masses were recovered in the same district in 1968 and 2002. Nowadays, the total known weight of Brahin exceeds 800 kg [42]. Like other main-group pallasites, Brahin consists of round, nut-like and fragmented olivine crystals embedded into the Fe-Ni metal matrix. The less-common minerals are represented by schreibersite-nickelphosphide (Fe3P-Ni3P), chromite, troilite and daubreelite, FeCr2O4. The specific feature of oxygen-bearing minerals of Brahin is their depletion in Mn [12]. Phosphates are comprised by merrillite, Ca9NaMg(PO4)7, and stanfieldite. The crystal structure of iron-free merrillite from this meteorite has been recently reported [4]. Stanfieldite in Brahin was studied with respect to the occurrence of fission tracks [43]. A 1 × 2 mm grain of colorless stanfieldite was found in the centimeter-sized Brahin fragment kindly provided for the study by the Mining Museum, Saint Petersburg Mining University (specimen M65/2, which originates from the first find in 1810). Stanfieldite and merrillite fill up the pocket bound by the fragmented olivine grains, schreibersite and (Fe, Ni) metal (Figure 1).

**Figure 1.** Stanfieldite (St) in the Brahin pallasite. Associated minerals: Ol, olivine; Mr, merrillite; Crt, chromite; Schr, schreibersite; Km, kamacite, α-(Fe,Ni); Pl, plessite (fine-grained aggregate of α- and γ-(Fe, Ni)). Polished section. SEM image of backscattered electrons. Image made by S.N.B.
