H
Name
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Structure Class
Ordinary chondrites
Chemical Class
H5
Country
Bolivia
Year found
2016
Mass
50 kg
[Museum Collection]
(1) 8.8g
History: A bright fireball appeared over Aiquile, Cochabamba district of Bolivia, on 20 November 2016, 17:57 local time (UTC-4). Stones fell in a strewn field of at least 12 × 2 km (northeasterly direction) in the following Aiquile communities: Tablamayu, Panamá, Chawar Mayu, Chaqo K’asa, Barbechos and Cruz Loma. The main bolide fragmentation occurred over the Tablamayu community, 12 km north of Aiquile. In the Cruz Loma community, C. Veizaga witnessed the fall of the largest stone (36.3 kg) about 500 m from him. He recovered the stone and in the following day the local Aiquile government (Luiz L. Arnez, Marco Cardona, Franz Navia, William Rodriguez, Jesus Yave) took the stone to the city museum. In the Panamá community, Roberto Soto witnessed the fall and recovered two other fragments (565 g, 2.2 kg). SERGEOMIN (Miguel A. Muriel, G. Villca, A. Perez), UMSA (Gonzalo Pereira), Brazil NM collaborators (Andre R. Moutinho, José M. Monzon) and S. Medina found additional fragments in the Panamá community. A. Moutinho found a 98 g fragment which was used for classification. Physical characteristics: The 36.3 kg stone was almost fully covered with fusion crust and remaglypts, with only small pitted corners (47 × 17 × 26 cm); the 2.26 kg stone is semi-prismatic and almost fully covered with fusion crust; the 565 g piece is a fragment mostly without fusion crust. Petrography: Medium shock stage (S3), chondritic texture and mineralogy and mineral compositions of an equilibrated ordinary chondrite. Porphyritic olivine and radial pyroxene chondrules dominate. Geochemistry: Microprobe analyses show an equilibrated olivine and pyroxene composition of Olivine (Fa18.3±0.5; n=53), low-Ca pyroxene (Fs 15.7±0.7; n=37). Mean Cr2O3 of olivine is 0.048 wt.% for both matrix and clasts areas. Classification: H group classification based on: chondrule mean apparent diameter (~0.3 mm), content of metallic Fe,Ni + FeS (9.9 vol%), Co content of kamacite (0 - 0.3 wt%). Petrologic type 5 classification based on chondritic texture, and plagioclase
Name
*click on the Name for more information
Structure Class
Ordinary chondrites
Chemical Class
H5
Country
Mauritania
Year found
2006
Mass
29.56 kg
[Museum Collection]
(1) 30.2g (2) 30.3g
History: A fireball was witnessed in the area, but no records of the direction of movement were recorded. A single stone of 3165 g was found by A. Salem El Moichine, a local resident, on the same day at 13:00 hr local time, 11 km SE of Bassikounou. The sample for classification was provided to NMBE by M. Ould Mounir, Nouakchott, who obtained it from his cousin who recovered the meteorite. According to S. Buhl (Hamburg, Germany), more than 20 specimens were later recovered by locals and meteorite finders. These finds define a 8 km long strewnfield. The total recovered mass is 46.00 kg. Physical characteristics: The 3165 g specimen is largely covered by black fusion crust. The interior is light gray. On the surface of the fusion crust there is some adherent soil material, some of which is bright red. Shortly after recovery, the stone was cut into two pieces of 1200 and 1950 g. The larger piece has a rectangular shape and shows indications of flow-lines in the fusion crust. Petrography: (E. Gnos, MHNGE; B. Hofmann, NMBE, M. Eggimann, Bern/NMBE): Mean chondrule size 0.35 mm (n=53). Metal abundance is 8 vol%, troilite 6.6 vol%. Mean plagioclase grain size is ~20 mm. Troilite is polycrystalline, rich in silicate inclusions, and shows diffuse boundaries to metal. Metal is partly rich in silicate- and troilite inclusions. Rare metallic Cu (10 mm) occurs at kamacite-taenite boundaries and in troilite. Some shock veins and no weathering products were observed. Mineral compositions: Olivine (Fa18.6), pyroxene (Fs16.3 Wo1.1), plagioclase (An13.7). Cosmogenic radionuclides: (P. Weber, PPGUN) Gamma-spectroscopy performed in December-January 2006 showed the presence of the following radionuclides: 48V, 46Sc, 56Co, 54Mn, 58Co, 7Be, 51Cr, 57Co, 22Na, 26Al and 60Co. Recalculated to 12 October 2006 22Na was 38.0±2.2 and 26Al 31.5±2.1 (both dpm/kg), the activity ratio of 1.21 is fully consistent with a fall on that date. Classification: Ordinary chondrite (H5); S2, W0. Type specimens: A total of 115 g are on deposit at NMBE. Boudreaux holds the main mass.
Name
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Structure Class
Ordinary chondrites
Chemical Class
H5/6
Country
Denmark
Year found
2016
Mass
8.94 kg
[Museum Collection]
(1) 0.29g (2) 0.24g (3) 0.20g
History: (H. Haack, NHMD): A bright fireball was observed over eastern Denmark Feb. 6, 2016, 22:07:19 (UTC+1). It was overcast in the area below the fireball, but many people reported having seen a very bright light. Pictures of the fireball were taken from three locations in Germany and one in Austria (at a distance of 890 km) by automatic cameras designed to take pictures of noctilucent clouds. A surveillance camera on the Danish west coast also recorded a video of the fireball. None of the cameras in the Danish fireball network had clear skies during the event. 279 reports with observations of the fireball and/or sound phenomena were received by the Danish fireball network. Loud sonic booms were heard by many people up to 30 km from the place where the meteorites were found. The day after the fireball was observed the first meteorite (60 g fragment) was found on the tiles in front of the main door of a private house in Ejby, which is a suburb in the western part of Copenhagen. The owner of the house had not seen the rock before. Later that day 6.5 kg of shattered fragments were found on the tiled courtyard of a business property. These fragments had not been there when the business closed on Friday – the day before the fall. During the following 19 days a total of 11 individual meteorites were found in an area measuring 5 × 5 km. The biggest piece weighed 6.5 kg. It hit a tiled area and shattered into hundreds of fragments. Physical characteristics: 11 meteorites have been recovered, with a total mass of 8938 g. Some of the fragments were recovered wet and the weights are therefore decreasing as the samples dry out. Petrography: (M. Patzek and A. Bischoff, IfP). Based on the study of the thin sections, Ejby is unbrecciated. Highly recrystallized areas with large plagioclase grains were observed, and areas with abundant relict chondrules also exist. Thus, the rock is transitional between type 5 and 6. In places, high metal and sulfide abundances were found. Olivine shows undulatory extinction indicating that the rock is very weakly shocked (S2). As opaque phases metals (kamacite, taenite), troilite, and chromite were observed. Other accessory phases include Cl-apatite and merrillite. Geochemistry: (M. Patzek and A. Bischoff, IfP). The mean composition of olivine is Fa19.3±0.1 with a compositional range of Fa18.8-19.5 (n=19). The low-Ca pyroxenes have a mean composition of Fs16.9±0.2 (n= 21), range Fs16.4-17.2. Mean plagioclase is An11.5±0.9Or6.0±1.6 (n= 10; range An9.0-12.8). Kamacite has mean Ni- and Co-concentrations of 6.3 and 0.45 wt%, respectively (n=8). The taenite composition has 48.7±2.8 wt% Ni (mean Co: ~0.05 wt%; n=10). Specimens: Except for a few small fragments of the 6.5 kg main mass, all recovered fragments are at NHMD.
Name
*click on the Name for more information
Structure Class
Ordinary chondrites
Chemical Class
H5
Country
Mauritania
Year found
1997
Mass
240 kg
[Museum Collection]
(1) 53.1g
In 1997 January, an unknown mass of material, possibly broken apart from a single large stone, was sold to meteorite collectors by nomads near the town of Mhamid, Morocco; this material has since been resold under the names Mhamid and Hamada du Draa. The nomads claimed that this meteorite was found to the south, in Algeria (~29º50'N 5º50'W), in the direction of a fireball seen in 1995 January. In 1997 September, the same nomads shipped a fragment of a meteorite that they claimed was seen to fall on 1997 August 10 to Mr. Edwin Thompson. In 1997 November, Thompson traveled to Mauritania and collected six fresh-looking stones totaling ~200 kg (individual masses of 80, 51, 30, 26, 8, and 4 kg) at the base of the El Hammami Mountains in Mauritania (1000 km southwest of Mhamid, Morocco), probably in the place where they fell; fragments of these have been sold by Thompson and other dealers under the name El Hammami. Classification and mineralogy of El Hammami stones (A. Rubin, UCLA): olivine, Fa18.8; pyroxene Fs16.7Wo1.4; shock stage S2; contains metal veins; petrologic type 5. Classification and mineralogy of Hamada du Draa stones (D. Weber, Mün): olivine, Fa19.2; pyroxene Fs17.4; shock stage S2; contains conspicuous metal-rich veins; petrologic type 5/6; some of the material appears weathered and rusts easily, but the bulk is quite fresh. Specimens from El Hammami stones: ~100 kg, Thompson; type specimen, UCLA. Specimens originally called Hamada du Draa are now scattered in private collections, and some may remain in Morocco; type specimen, ~1 kg, Mün. Because all of the above-described material seems likely to represent a single fall, the name El Hammami shall be the official collective name. Mhamid and Hamada du Draa should be considered only as unofficial synonyms for El Hammami. The total known mass of material is probably ~240 kg.
Name
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Structure Class
Ordinary chondrites
Chemical Class
H5
Country
Burkina Faso
Year found
1960
Mass
---
[Museum Collection]
(1) 179g (2) 72g
GAO, a village about 60 km N of the town of Leo, Upper Volta; φ = 11°391N, λ = 2°11'W. FALL, March 5, 1960, about 1700 hours. STONY, olivine-bronzite chondrite. At least 16 stones were recovered, the largest weighing 2.5 kg; 1 kg in U.S. National Museum (Washington, USA). FALL OF THE GUENIE, UPPER VOLTA, STONY METEORITE Name: GUENIE Place of fall: Upper Volta Date of fall: April, 1960. Class and type: Stone. Olivine-bronzite chondrite (H4). Olivine Fa18-20. Number of individual specimens: A shower, total number not known. Total weight: Not known, 3.6 kg, four stones, in Paris (Natural History Museum). Circumstances of fall: Not reported. Source: M. Bourot et al, 1975. Guenie and Tillaberi: Descriptions of two chondrites fallen in Africa. Meteoritics 10, 368 (abs.). See also M. Bourot, 1976. Etude mineralogique de la meteorite de Guenie. 3rd cycle thesis, University of Paris VI. Gao-Guenie, new name With the recent paper by Bourot-Denise et al. (1998), the Meteorite Nomenclature Committee has decided that a new, collective name, Gao-Guenie, will be bestowed upon all meteorites formerly identified as either Gao (Upper Volta) (frequently truncated to Gao) or Guenie. It had been reported that two meteorite showers occurred one month apart in 1960 in the country now known as Burkina Faso. But the new work confirms long-held suspicions that the two meteorites are indistinguishable from each other and that there was most likely only one fall (1960 March 5). The confusion about this meteorite has been compounded by the fact that new stones continue to be found ~40 years after the fall and are given arbitrarily one or the other name. Henceforth, the official name for all meteorites from this shower will be Gao-Guenie, with the names Gao (Upper Volta) and Guenie as recognized synonyms.
Name
*click on the Name for more information
Structure Class
Ordinary chondrites
Chemical Class
H5
Country
Australia
Year found
1978
Mass
10 kg
[Museum Collection]
(1) 129.6g
Gascoyne Junction Upper Gascoyne County, Western Australia, Australia Found before 1978, recognized 1992 Ordinary Chondrite (H5) 50 stones totaling ~10 kg (largest, 1.6 kg) were found by a prospector in a 2 ´ 4 km area of a sheep station. Mineralogy and classification (C. Lewis and J. Clark, Arizona State University): olivine, Fa19. Specimens: M. & K. Killgore, Southwest Meteorite Lab, PO Box 95, Payson, AZ, 85547.
