  We have determined chemical abundances and radial velocities for stars in the
field of the zeta Sculptoris cluster. We find that the cluster metal deficiency
previously found from UBV photometry is too high; the cluster overall
metallicity, [Fe/H]=+0.24, is about 70% higher than the solar value. The
chemical abundance pattern is unusual: the Ni/Fe ratio is significantly lower
than typical for field stars with similar Fe and Ca abundances, and the cluster
may also be deficient in the alpha element Si. For its age, the cluster is
unusually far from the galactic disk, approximately 240 pc. The adopted
heliocentric cluster radial velocity, +3.9 km/s, shows that it is close to its
maximum distance from the galactic plane. We suggest that the zeta Sculptoris
cluster was formed in the galactic disk 45 Myr ago by the interaction of a high
velocity cloud with the interstellar medium, and that its formation may be
connected with that of Gould's Belt. (Table3, postscript figures and text
available by anonymous ftp from "chiron.astro.uu.se" in directory
pub/articles/atmos/P90)
