top of page

L

page top
Aba Panu

Name

*click on the Name for more information

Structure Class

Ordinary chondrites

Chemical Class

L3

Country

Nigeria

Year found

2018

Mass

160 kg

[Museum Collection]

(1) 128g   (2) 201.5g   (3) 170.8g   (4) 153.3g

(5) 113.6g   (6) 80.9g   (7) 28.0g   (8) 27.9g

(9) 8.1g   (10) 7.3g   (11) 6.6g   (12) 6.6g

(13) 6.5g   (14) 6.2g   (15) 5.1g

History: On the afternoon of 19 April 2018, a large fireball detonated over the Nigerian state of Oyo. This fireball was recorded by NASAs Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) as event 2018-04-19 14:02:27. The meteoroid entered at 20.9 km/s and detonated at an altitude of 30 km at 7.5’N, 3.6’E releasing a calculated total impact energy of 0.23 kt. Many stones fell between the villages of Ipapo (8°7’50.84"N, 3°30’34.58"E) and Tede to the north (8°33’21.49"N, 3°26’46.31"E). Stone were collected at multiple locations. The meteorite is named for the village of Aba Panu near the center of the strewn-field: multiple kg-sized stones were found in and around this village. Current total known weight is near 160 kg. Physical characteristics: The stones are hard, range from 30 g to near 40 kg, rounded with broad poorly developed regmaglypts, and largely lacking fusion crust. Fusion crust is occasionally preserved within the shallow regmaglypts. Most stones are greyish green and show areas of rounded to angular light-colored clasts. Largest clast (5 × 2 cm) is angular, fine-grained, and achondritic. Observations from multiple slices show that clasts constitute roughly

Benenitra

Name

*click on the Name for more information

Structure Class

Ordinary chondrites

Chemical Class

L6

Country

Madagascar

Year found

2018

Mass

20 kg

[Museum Collection]

(1) 48.21g

History: Reports of a meteor that detonated in a loud explosion, and stones falling from the sky into the town of Benenitra (pop. ~30,000) on the evening of July 27, 2018, were received by a visiting geologist, Timothy Marais, on July 30, 2018. He was shown photographs and several small fragments, two of which he purchased, weighing 99 and 14 g. Roger Gibson and Lewis Ashwal in the School of Geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand confirmed a meteorite origin for these specimens using petrographic analysis and EMPA. Confirmation of the date and time of the fall was obtained independently when an upper atmosphere infrasound event was identified on a bearing south-southwest of the CTBTO station IS33 near Antananarivo, Madagascar, at 17h16 GMT on July 27 by Dr. Andry Ramanantsoa (Laboratory of Seismology and Infrasound, University of Antananrivo). A weak ground tremor at approximately 17h17 GMT was identified in the data from the seismograph at the Sakaraha (SKRH) station approximately 80 km northwest of Benenitra by Dr Ranto Raveloson (Wits), and was interpreted to be related to the airburst. Magnetic susceptibility measurements were performed by Prof. Susan Webb (Wits). Physical characteristics: Two broken fragments containing small remnants of bluish-black to brown-black fusion crust and weighing 14 g and 82 g (after thin sectioning) consist of a light-gray matrix with disseminated metal (<1 mm) and some visible chondrules (<5 mm). The edge of the larger fragment, which contains a thin (

Chico

Name

*click on the Name for more information

Structure Class

Ordinary chondrites

Chemical Class

L6

Country

United States of America

Year found

1954

Mass

104.8 kg

[Museum Collection]

(1) 40.8g

Clifford

Name

*click on the Name for more information

Structure Class

Ordinary chondrites

Chemical Class

L6

Country

United States of America

Year found

1962

Mass

11.36 kg

[Museum Collection]

(1) 20.70g

Clifford Lincoln County , Colorado, USA Found ~ 1962 Ordinary chondrite (L6) An 11.36 kg stone was found in uncultivated rangeland by a local resident who thought it looked unusual and kept it in a rock garden. The stone was recognized as a meteorite in 1997 by Gary Curtiss. Classification and mineralogy (A. Rubin, UCLA): olivine, Fa25.2±0.3; shock stage, S3; weathering grade, W2. Specimens: main mass, Mr. Gary Curtiss, Lakewood, Colorado; type specimen, 46.6 g, UCLA; 596.5 g, NHM.

El Hassan Ould Hamed 002

Name

*click on the Name for more information

Structure Class

Ordinary chondrites

Chemical Class

L4

Country

Mauritania

Year found

2021

Mass

5.45 kg

[Museum Collection]

(1) 135g

History: Reports of a meteor that detonated in a loud explosion, and stones falling from the sky into the town of Benenitra (pop. ~30,000) on the evening of July 27, 2018, were received by a visiting geologist, Timothy Marais, on July 30, 2018. He was shown photographs and several small fragments, two of which he purchased, weighing 99 and 14 g. Roger Gibson and Lewis Ashwal in the School of Geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand confirmed a meteorite origin for these specimens using petrographic analysis and EMPA. Confirmation of the date and time of the fall was obtained independently when an upper atmosphere infrasound event was identified on a bearing south-southwest of the CTBTO station IS33 near Antananarivo, Madagascar, at 17h16 GMT on July 27 by Dr. Andry Ramanantsoa (Laboratory of Seismology and Infrasound, University of Antananrivo). A weak ground tremor at approximately 17h17 GMT was identified in the data from the seismograph at the Sakaraha (SKRH) station approximately 80 km northwest of Benenitra by Dr Ranto Raveloson (Wits), and was interpreted to be related to the airburst. Magnetic susceptibility measurements were performed by Prof. Susan Webb (Wits). Physical characteristics: Two broken fragments containing small remnants of bluish-black to brown-black fusion crust and weighing 14 g and 82 g (after thin sectioning) consist of a light-gray matrix with disseminated metal (<1 mm) and some visible chondrules (<5 mm). The edge of the larger fragment, which contains a thin (

Gatuto

Name

*click on the Name for more information

Structure Class

Ordinary chondrites

Chemical Class

L6 

Country

Kenya

Year found

2020

Mass

25 kg

[Museum Collection]

(1) 6.12kg

History: (per J. Higgins and M. Farmer) At about 8:27 pm on the evening of April 24, 2020, several witnesses near the village of Gatuto, Kenya, saw a bright trail in the sky, and about 5 minutes later heard three detonations followed by another longer sound ending with a bang. One of the witnesses to these phenomena, Mr. Josphat Gakere, was outside his house near Gatuto road when he and his family saw the fireball and heard detonations. Moments later he witnessed the impact of an object 15 m away, and discovered a 1 m deep hole in his maize garden. The following morning, an intact 6140 g fusion-crusted stone was excavated from the hole. Mrs. Mary Wamburu was preparing supper in her house near the village of Kombuini (between Kagio and Kutus) when she heard a noise on the corrugated metal roof. She looked into the next room and saw a hole in the roof and shattered rock on the concrete floor. Further investigations led by Mr. Mahamed Nur Ogle resulted in the recovery of a 2290 g stone, excavated next to a tree with bark shredded at a high angle to the ground on the farm adjacent to Mr. Gakere’s farm, as well as a 1 kg stone next to the Kerugoya-Kaguma road near the nearby village of Kimicha, an additional 494.4 g of fragments from other farms, and 117.7 g of fragments which had impacted and made white marks on the Kagio-Kutus road near Kimicha. Another >8 kg stone was excavated from its impact hole behind a man’s home located 2.2 km NNW of Gatuto; although people struck the stone with a hammer and removed some fragments, a ~7.4 kg intact piece remained. Soon after the fall event John Higgins in collaboration with Mahamad Nur Ogle acquired a total of 10.122 kg of material, and independently Michael Farmer obtained a total of 9.3 kg of material. Physical characteristics: The total weight of recovered material is estimated to be ~25 kg. The most complete stones are largely coated by black fusion crust. Their interiors and the broken fragments are light gray in color with a crystalline ("sugary") appearance and visible fresh metal grains. Some stones exhibit rare very thin, black shock veinlets. Petrography: (A. Irving, UWS and P. Carpenter, WUSL) Very sparse chondrules and partial chondrules occur within a recrystallized, locally poikiloblastic matrix containing unaltered kamacite, taenite, chromite, troilite and chlorapatite. A single 5 mm fine-grained type 7 clast exhibiting complete recrystallization and triple grain junction texture is present in the studied thin section. Geochemistry: Olivine (Fa24.8±0.1, range Fa24.7-25.0, N = 5), low-Ca pyroxene (Fs21.0±0.2Wo1.6±0.1, range Fs20.7-21.2Wo1.4-1.8, N = 5), augite (Fs8.2±0.2Wo44.5±0.3, range Fs8.1-8.4Wo44.3-44.9, N = 3), plagioclase (Ab84.0±0.7An10.2±0.4Or5.7±0.4, range Ab83.3-84.6An10.5-9.8Or6.2-5.4, N = 3), chromite (Cr1.56Fe0.91Al0.24Mg0.12Ti0.08). Magnetic suscpetibility log χ (× 10-9 m3/kg) = 4.71. Classification: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Specimens: 27.5 g including one polished thin section and one polished mount at UWB; 62 g at ASU; 10.1 kg including 6140 g main mass with Mr. J. Higgins; 9.3 kg with Farmer.

Name

*click on the Name for more information

Structure Class

Ordinary chondrites

Chemical Class

L5

Country

Year found

1954

Mass

1.75 t

[Museum Collection]

(1) 59.826g

Ghubara
bottom of page