Meteorite Recon | Chondrites
Meteorite search expedtions into continental deserts, meteorite features, collection specimens and photography
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Archive

Wiluna

Stone, chondrite, H5, W0
5 miles due east of Wiluna township, Western Australia
Fall: September 2, 1967, 10:46 p.m. local time
TKW: 150 kg
Individual: 78.90 g

Nose shaped mass with few small elongated regmaglypts. The flat base of the meteorite is framed by delicate lipping indicating an oriented flight at the time of solidification. The complete specimen is covered by thick dull primary fusion crust. Wiluna fell after a fireball was seen and sonic crackling and hissing were heard by almost the entire population of Wiluna which at the time of the fall gathered in the town’s outdoor movie playhouse. The meteorite shower consisted of more than 1000 stones and produced a strewnfield of four by two miles five miles east of the Wiluna township. The pictured specimen is a remarkably fresh meteorite recovered during the search organized by the Western Australia Museum Perth shortly after the fall. The specimen bears the painted collection number 12934 101 which indicates the 101st individual collected from the Wiluna meteorite fall.

Mount Tazerzait

Stone, chondrite, L5, S1, W0
Agadez District, Republic of Niger
Fall: August 21, 1991, afternoon
TKW: 110 kg
Endcut: 617.00 g

Compact endcut with two cut surfaces, of which one is polished, two broken surfaces and one large surface with original fusion crust. The latter shows light caliche deposits in cracks and cavities. Mount Tazerzait shows an extraordinary lithology. Contrary to most other ordinary chondrites, the material displays very little impact induced shock alteration and a relatively long cosmic exposure age. The most striking difference to common L5 chondrites, is an unusually high porosity of 12.6 percent, with a high amount of vugs in its matrix, often with euhedral to anhedral crystals that have formed in these interstitial pores.

Kunya-Urgench

Stone, chondrite, H5, W0
Dashkhowus Velayat, Turkmenistan
Fall: June 20, 1998, 17:25 hrs local time
TKW: ~ 1100 kg
Fragment: 139.0 g

The spectacular fall of the Kunya-Urgench meteorite was observed by hundreds of villagers in the Dashkhowus Velayat. A large daylight bolide brightened the afternoon sky, and a loud whistling followed by a crashing noise was heard. At 17:25 hrs a large single mass impacted 30-50 m from a group of cotton farmers in a field. The force of the impact shaped a crater, six meters wide and 4 meters deep. Many fragments were collected from the ejecta and a large mass of 900 kg was excavated from the bottom of the pit. The president of the Turkmens, Saparmurat Nijasow, ordered the main mass to be transported to the capital Ashkabat, where he offhandedly named the meteorite after himself, “Saparmurat Turkmenbashy” which can be translated as “Sapamurat, head of all Turkmens”. The preatmospheric mass of the meteorite was estimated 1.5 – 2.5 t, the cosmic exposure age was determined ~42 Ma. (L.L.Kashkarov et al. 2000). See also: V.A.Alexeev, etl.al.: THE KUNYA-URGENCH AND SOME OTHER FRESH-FALLEN CHONDRITES: COSMOGENIC RADIONUCLIDES. In: Lunar and Planetary Science XXXII (03/2001), abstract no. 1024. L.L.Kashkarov et al.: TRACK AND NOBLE GAS INVESTIGATION OF NEW KUNYA-URGENCH H5 CHONDRITE. In: Lunar and Planetary Science XXXI (2000), abstract no. 1397.

Northwest Africa 7700

Stone, chondrite, L3, S3, W3
Lourj Al Ghardeg, Sidi A. Laaroussi, Western Sahara
Find: September 17, 2010
TKW: 64.40 g
Endcut 41.50 g

Unequilibrated chondrite with densely packed chondrules and a comparably low matrix ammount. The cut surface which shows a plentiful variation of chondrules opens a window into the aggregation history of protoplanetary material, as it condensed in the presolar cloud 4.56 billion years ago. The pictured fragment was found mid September 2010 from the back of a camel by S. Larabas in the vicinity of Sidi Ahmed Laaroussi, Western Sahara. An additional search did not turn up any further fragments of this peculiar meteorite.

Bou Kra 003

Stone, chondrite, L6, S3, W1
Tifiquirn, Western Sahara
Find: September 27, 2010
TKW: 50.1 g
Half individual: 35.20 g

Prism-shaped and moderately weathered ordinary chondrite. The meteorite features two surfaces with well preserved primary and one with secondary fusion crust. An additional fractured surface shows only traces of fusion. The NiFe aggregates visible on the broken surface developed small rust halos, but no patina has formed on this surface. After cutting of the sample, a megachondrule measuring 6 mm in diameter became visible. The lower photo shows the meteorite in situ. Bou Kra 003 was actually the 5th find in the new dense concentration area Bou Kra which was discovered by the Meteorite Recon team in 2010. Additional finds from the 2012 search campaign in the Bou Kra DCA are currently pending classification.

Bou Kra 002

Stone, chondrite, L5, S1, W2
Saquia al Hamra, Western Sahara
Find: September 25, 2010
TKW: 606 g
Individual w. cut surface: 491.60 g

Oriented shield-shaped mass with single regmaglypts and remnant flow-lines. The meteorite has developed a distinct desert patina as well as few stress cracks due to terrestrial weathering. The matrix as well is darkened as an effect of chemical weathering. Most iron aggregates show progressed oxidation. The upper photo was taken with the meteorite still in its find Position. Note the difference in color due to different lighting and cackground contrast, compared to the studio photo. Bou Kra 002 was actually the 4th find in the new dense concentration area Bou Kra which was discovered by the Meteorite Recon team in 2010.

Taousz / Breja

Stone, chondrite, L chondrite, publication pending
Moroccan-Algerian border
Fall: May 1st, 2010, 03:00 hrs local time
TKW: ~15 kg
Individual: 130.4 g

Fall-fresh chondrite from the meteorite fall which was observed in Southern Morocco and Algeria on May 1st 2010. Following the appearance of a giant bolide, a meteorite shower had descended near the border of the two countries. The stones recovered were subsequently distributed under the names Taousz and Breja. Taousz meteorites show a marvelous sooty fusion rind with an unparalleled contrast to the luminously bright, particularly fine-grained and slightly greenish shimmering matrix. The 130 g collection specimen shows well preserved impact marks.

Buzzard Coulee

Stone, chondrite, H4, S2, W0
Wilton Rural Municipality, Saskatchewan, Canada
Fall: November 20, 2008, 17:26 MST
TKW: > 41 kg
Individual: 187.0 g

Compact angular mass with convex front and concave base. Apart from a 5 mm chip the 187 g meteorite is completely coated with a rich black fusion crust, which on one surface shows a brownish hue. Buzzard Coulee fell as a meteorite shower after a bright fireball was observed across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba on the evening of November 20, 2008. The fireball and subsequent dust trail were recorded by several all-sky and security video cameras. This footage as well as interviews of eyewitnesses constrained the fall region and led to the first meteorites being recovered off the ice of a manmade pond seven days after the fall. At least several hundred specimens were recovered in 2008 and 2009, the largest pieces weighing 13 kg, 6.99 kg and 1.3 kg respectively. The pictured specimen weighs 187 g and was found on April 16, 2009.

Aridal 011

Stone, chondrite, L6, W1
Boujdour, South Morocco
Find: February 16, 2012
Finder: S. Buhl
TKW: 568 g
Individual: 180.0 g

Moderately sand-abraded chondrite found on February 16 as the first meteorite find of the 2012 Meteorite Recon expedition in South Morocco. The L6 chondrite also marks the first find of the newly discovered dense aggregation area Aridal (Bir Aridal / Imirikli Labyad). In total, during the first Expedition to the Aridal area, the Meteorite Recon Team found more than 30 fragments of six meteorites representing three different fall events. The top photo shows the 180 g Imirikli Labyad 001 meteorite in situ (Because the finds of the 2nd Expedition were classified and submitted before the 1st, the first find received the DCA-number 011).

Allende

Stone, carbonaceous chondrite, CV3
Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico
Fall: February 8, 1969, 07:05 GMT
TKW: 2 MT
Individual: 80.0 g

Allende meteorite picked up shortly after the fall. The individual shows thick layered vesicular fusion crust with few flow lines on ~65 percent of its surface. The fractured surfaces display a number of large CAIs. This specimen comes from the collection of the “American Meteorite Laboratory” and bears the Huss-number 103.201.