L
Name
*click on the Name for more information
Structure Class
Ordinary chondrites
Chemical Class
L3
Country
Nigeria
Year found
2018
Mass
160 kg

BONHAMS Auction 7 DEC 2021 Lot#2355



BONHAMS Auction 7 DEC 2021 Lot#2355
[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
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 (
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.
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 (
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

BONHAMS Auction 18-28 May 2021 Lot#32

BONHAMS Auction 18-28 May 2021 Lot#32
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.