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www.niger-meteorite-recon.de
Kainsaz meteorite expedition
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strewnfield map
Building the camp
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Female black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) inspecting our camp.
The large animal can grow up to several kilos of weight and would have made an acceptable extension to our monotonous diet
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The crossing of a small stream with steep banks had cost us a couple of
eggs but the 4wd Lada scaled the muddy ascent on the
far side without bogging down in the mire. After a
fifteen minute cross country drive through a gently
undulating prairie our party arrived at the edge of a
birch and pine forest that expanded over the horizon.
A black grouse cumbersomely lifted off
from a picturesque clearing angrily croaking
at the brisk disturbance of our arrival. The GPS
displayed a fine line that cut our postion running
from southeast to northwest in a 47 degree angle.
This was the axis of the distribution ellipse. That
place would be our campsite for the coming two weeks.
The first thing to be erected was the mess tent.
Wood was cut, to built its framework which then was
nailed and roped to two strong trees. Transparent plastic
walls and roof, a camping table, two chairs and a petroleum
lamp completed the construction. At this stage of things
I hurried to put up my own tent as now I desperatedly needed
to catch some sleep. I was just about to roll out my sleeping bag
when Andrew announced a meeting in the mess tent.
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Klondike style mess tent. Note the Vallon magnetometer beneath the hammock
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Sept. 13th, 1937, 14:50 hrs, road from Tash-Elga to Kainsaz
On his way back to Kainsaz Ivan Baryshnikov had followed
the road coming from Tash Elga where he met an excited
crowd that had just dug out a coal black chunk the size of
a fur hat from a field near the road. The object had impacted
one feet deep in the soil and had produced a crater one foot
wide. Someone said that the object was a bomb so people stepped
back and refused to touch it.
Ivan knew bombs and this object did not
look like any of those he had seen during the
war. But when the villagers asked him what else
it could be if not a bomb or a projectile he scratched
his beard and admitted that this was beyound his wisdom.
Later that day one more stone was found and people from
a neighbouring village reported that a black 22 kg stone
fell in another field at Krasny Yar some 50
meters from a farmer on his tractor.
There on the table sat a bottle of Vodka together with
three tumblers. Pyotr carefully poured the crystal clear
liquid into the glasses, making sure that they were
filled up to their maximum capacity. Although it was
just about noon I felt that a little sundowner could
do no harm before I finally would retreat into the
desperately longed for comfort of my sleeping bag.
Pjotr brought out a toast asking success for our mission
which we repeated before we emptied our glasses. Before
the pain in my throat could ease Pyotr had filled
the glasses again.
Another toast was brought out and
this time it was my turn. So I thanked my
Russian friends for their hospitality and for the
opportunity to take part in this historical mission
as I was the first German, if not the first foreigner
ever, who arrived at the Kainsaz strewnfield. I
grabbed me a chair as the third lap was issued.
Another bottle with a grim bear on its label was opened.
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Three tents and a fireplace: The Tartarstan Inn
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Taking the opportunity I suggested a little break at
this stage, as I was determined to start prospecting
in the afternoon. Pyotr nodded and agreeed that the
hard work which would expect us demanded superhuman
strength. That could only be achieved by drinking more
Vodka.
Half an hour later and after several more toasts
the breakfast was declared over and I crawled into my
tent, not so sure if I still wanted to get up some hours
later to walk the woods with the magnetometer. Kainsaz
meteorite prospecting appeared to be tougher than I had
expected. As I submerged in my tent I heard Andrew
reassuring me: “Don’t be afraid,
we won’t be drinking too much Vodka in the morning”.
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A 451gm Kainsaz individual found by Pyotr Muromov on the central axis of the strewnfield in 2003.
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When I woke up at late afternoon I felt as if the the Grizzly
from the Vodka bottle had sat on me while I slept. In fact
it was a Russian brown bear of the ursus arctos species but
this did not make much difference in my state. An extended
bath at the small natural melt water source downhill brought
me back to life. The pure and ice cold water poured out of
a plastic bottle neck that Andrew had attached to the source hole.
At my return to the camp he had already started a fire.
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A. S. Selivanov. The scientist from the
Verndsky Geochemical Institute was in charge of the investigation of the Kainsaz meteorite fall.
Later in the 1960 he became one of the leading pioneers in camera technology
for the Soviet Lunar Orbiter program
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Sept. 13th, 1937, 18:30 hrs, Muslyomovo
On the afternoon of September 13th, 1937 the commissar
in Muslyumovo hastyly set up a report that included the
information he was able to obtain so far. He cabled it to Moscow
where it alarmed the OGPU (KGB) who was convinced that the
incident must have been caused by the crash of a German spy
plane. The commisar was ordered to confiscate all of the
mysterious material that fell from the sky and to await
further instructions. Moscow did not hesitate. Quick
measurements had to be taken to rule out a Nazi threat
in Tartarstan.
The same evening the Institute of Geochemistry
in Moscow, which was the predecessor of the 1947
founded Vernadsky Institute, was ordered to send their
most relyable senior to Tartarstan to undertake an
investigation of the Kainsaz incident. L.S. Selivanov
who was the leading mineralogist of his institute
received orders to start to Muslyumovo the same night
and not to rest until he reached the impact zone.
We checked the detectors and the radios for eventual
transport damage. Beside three White’s XLC dectors
we had brought a Vallon EL 1301 magnetometer. A heavy
device determined to detect unexploded ordnance in great
depths. In the highest sensible orperation mode the Vallon
could locate a ferromagnetic object the size of a golfball
up to a depth of three feet. The huge drawback is its
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Challenging terrain along the strewnfield axis
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size and weight and, as we would later learn, its
unability to separate between manmade ferritic arifacts,
ferittic soil contamination and genuine meteoritic nickel iron.
The White’s XLCs are compareable to other detectors
of the same generation as far as handling, depth scope
and surface coverage are concerned. We found them easy to
operate and reliable regarding their discrimination capacity.
The Kainsaz Meteorite is among the few CO3 meteorites
suitable to be prospected for with a metal detector.
The meteorite contains a total 25.56 % percent of iron which
is just enough to give the prospector a fair chance as
long as the meteorite hasn’t penetrated to deep into the
soil. Size of course is another limiting factor. The metal
content of 25% is however still quite low and corresponds
to those of oridinary L-chondrites. While the latter
contain 4 to 10% Ni the Kainsaz carbonaceous chondrite settles
on the lower end of that scale with only 4.5% Nickel.
Although none of us was eager to work this afternoon we
were in high spirits as we tested our equipment.
The target was a thin 17.9 gm slice of Kainsaz with a
large surface of approx. 20 square centimeters which
was placed in a non metallic disc case to prevent it from
damage. To make up for the low weight the slice was placed
in the soil in a depth of 10 centimeters and horizontal
to the surface. When exactly pinpointed with the White’s
it triggered a short signal sufficient for the operator
to recognize the meteorite. The Vallon magnetometer was
able to detect the slice even in a radius of 20 centimeters
around its location and from a vertical distance of approx. 25
centimeters. The coming day we would start prospecting.
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strewnfield map
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