Aba Panu, L3.6-6
In the afternoon of April 19, 2018, a flash of light and deafening roar startled the residents of Southwestern Nigeria. There were …
chondrite classification
From the chondrite information page, the petrographic classification scheme works kind of like this: completely altered by water into clay (no known …
Allegan, H5
Allegan’s a historic American fall from 1899. It’s a fairly typical H-chondrite, with moderate porosity and well-defined chondrules. From Merrill and Stokes’ …
Ash Creek, L6
For the story behind the stones, click here.
Bir Lehlou, H-chondrite
This 205 kilogram (451 pound) stone was found ~25 kilometers North of Bir Lehlou, in Western Sahara. It is the ~eighth largest …
Ash Creek, Texas
On February 15th, 2009 at around 11AM local time, a small asteroid entered the atmosphere and broke up over Birome, Texas. Larger …
Breja, LL6
Breja is an odd fall that somehow escaped publication despite having a known find location, known fall date, and a fairly large …
Bruderheim, L6
Bruderheim’s arrival to Earth was accompanied by spectacular effects. A complete account of the fall and its recovery can be seen here: …
Bunker Hill, L6
Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Bunker Hill. Robert Haag said that the stone had been found by a scrap collector among the ruins …
Carancas, H4-5
The Carancas meteorite violently exploded when it made landfall just south of Lake Titicaca on September 15, 2007. It is one of …
Chico Hills, H5
I don’t have much information on this rare find beyond the original Meteoritical Bulletin No. 37. Here’s a 51 gram fusion-crusted quarter-cut …
Coolidge, CL4
Coolidge is an unusual carbonaceous chondrite. It was initially classified as a CV3.8, and was later reclassified by different researchers as…a type-3.8 …
Correo, H4
This strewn field from New Mexico was discovered in the late 1970s. The total known weight is just a few kilograms, and …
chondrites
Chondrites are the most primitive group of meteorites. They have formation ages dating to at least 4.56 billion years before the present, …
Dar el Kahal, H5
This stone was one of the larger attractions at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show of 2014. Hundreds of kilograms were present, …
Dhofar 325, CO3.5
The average chondrule diameter of this stone is 100 – 200 µm: it isn’t an L-chondrite. From the Meteoritical Bulletin: Given the …
Dimmitt, H3.5-3.7
Dimmitt is one of the largest meteorites known from North America; hundreds of kilograms of fragments and individuals have been recovered from …
Forest City, H5
Forest City was a seminal American fall, studied by some of America’s earliest dedicated meteoriticists. A detail of note regarding this fall: …
Forestburg (b), L5
Here’s a chunk of a fairly uncommon American meteorite, which has otherwise been ~diced and distributed. From the Meteoritical Bulletin: 192.2 grams
Forrest 002, L6
Forrest (b), later named Forrest 002, was found in October of 1980. I wasn’t able to track down information beyond the scant …
Gao, H5
On March 5th, 1960, stones fell amongst the rooftops of several villages near Burkina Faso’s border with Ghana. Sonic effects were heard …
Gashua, L6
Gashua was witnessed to fall in Nigeria in April, 1984. I don’t have much to add to the Meteoritical Bulletin write-up. At …
Hamburg, H4
Hamburg was a fairly small fall that happened in the middle of Winter in Michigan — January 16th, 2018. After hearing about …
Indian Butte, H5
From the Meteoritical Bulletin: We spent a few days in the area in the summer of 2013, but didn’t have access to …
Izarzar, H5
After hearing reports of a fireball in Morocco in late October of 2012, I kept an eye out for stones, but saw …
Karoonda, CK4
Karoonda is the type specimen of the CK-meteorite class, meaning that it is the first CK chondrite to be known or recognized. …
Kennard, H5
This stone was obtained by Ralph Velich in 1961, and he documented everything fastidiously from then onwards. He described how he obtained …
Kerman, R3
Kerman was purchased in 2009 from a German mineral dealer. The small cut stone came from an old mineral collection with a …
Knyahinya, L/LL5
Knyahinya is a historic fall from Hungary. It was one of the largest meteorite falls to have been observed at the time …
Košice, H5
Košice was a relatively large fall in Slovakia in 2010. Here’s the Meteoritical Bulletin write-up: A video of the fireball, recorded from …
Kunashak, L6
Kunashak fell as a massive shower of stones: at least 20 fell, with a total weight of over 200 kilograms! The largest …
La Colina, H5
La Colina fell at 11:30 pm local time on March 19, 1924, in the Buenos Aires Province of Argentina. Following a bright …
La Luz, H4
I don’t have much more information on this one than is in the Meteoritical Bulletin: 3,518 gram main mass. Photos will be …
Ladder Creek, L6
35 kilograms of fragments were recovered from a field by a farmer named Edgar Linn in 1937. Nininger recovered them: The Ladder …
Las Vegas, Ordinary Chondrite
This small, complete stone was found in an empty lot along the Las Vegas strip by a metal detectorist. The finder mailed …
Leedey, L6
The Leedey meteorite fell in Oklahoma on November 35, 1943. Following a large fireball, 24 stones were recovered, with a total known …
MacKay Glacier, Ordinary Chondrite
This specimen was one of three meteorites found on MacKay Glacier (Victoria Land, Antarctica) by the crew of an environmental organization in …
New Mexico, H-chondrite
The finder of this stone posted it on eBay as a meteorite in early 2011, with a single blurry photo and no …
Matamoros, H6
This 30.4 kilogram stone came from just South of the border, near the town of Matamoros, Mexico. The owner posted some photos …
Monze, L6
This fall took place in Zambia on October 5, 1950, at ~4:20 am local time. Sonic effects were heard over an area …
Moorabie, Anomalous L3.8
This enigmatic meteorite has been plaguing researchers for years. Moorabie and a number of other H/L3-4 anomalous chondrites exhibit characteristics of both …
Ness County, L6
Ness County is a fairly old, but well-distributed meteorite, originally discovered in 1897. Many institutions possess specimens, but few have been traded …
New Concord, L6
There’s not much in the Meteoritical Bulletin on New Concord. I was able to track down a PDF of Farrington’s 1915 book, …
NWA 978, R3.8
There’s not much in the Meteoritical Bulletin other than the basic information: R3.8, S3, W2, total known weight: 722 grams. Of note: …
NWA 6494, H/L3
This cute stone came from Rob Elliott some years ago. From his photos, it was easy to tell that the stone was …
NWA 6500, LL3.8
290.5 gram windowed stone, main mass.
NWA 6504, L3.6
I don’t have much to add to the write-up; this stone was purchased already-cut from a dealer. When it is polished, many …
NWA 6505, CK4
This stone was classified as a CK4, S2, Wi 4 (Wi stands for the new weathering index determined for CK chondrites by …
NWA 6506, CV3
Here’s a pretty one — nice chondrules. The end pictured was used for the type specimen. Link to Meteoritical Bulletin:
NWA 6508, EL3
NWA 6508 was purchased as an unclassified NWA meteorite on eBay in September of 2009. The seller had cut it in half, …
NWA 6509, LL3.6
Here’s a pretty stone from Northwest Africa.
NWA 7406, EL3
EL3’s are extraordinarily rare. This stone is one of the four approved non-Antarctic EL3’s, as of 2020. Here’s the main mass of …
NWA 7411, CV3
This brick of a meteorite is a specimen that we bring to every outreach event. Chondrules, big CAIs, it’s perfect. And it’s …
NWA 7634, carbonaceous chondrite
This ~850 gram carbonaceous chondrite is something of an enigma. The original classification was “CO3,” with a description that described it as …
NWA 7669, LL3
This oriented stone has nice flow lines and what appears to be a huge type B CAI in the cut face, which …
NWA 7715, H6
Initial work suggested this stone was an H7. It was later shown to be an H6. The main mass weighs a little …
NWA 7789, LL3.1-LL6
This stunning 8.2 kilogram polymict breccia was recovered as a broken individual. We don’t usually cut stones much, but this stone began …
NWA 7800, R-chondrite
This 45 gram stone is one of the freshest rumuruti chondrites found. Glimmering sulfides can be seen on all surfaces. Mottled matrix …
NWA 7802, CM2
This CM2 came from a Moroccan meteorite dealer several years ago. We finally got around to requesting a provisional number in late …
NWA 7805, CK4
This 45 gram oriented CK chondrite was purchased in 2011 from a Moroccan meteorite dealer.
NWA 7806, CO3
This complete stone has a wonderful shape and is quite fresh. More data when it comes…
NWA 7807, type-3 chondrite
This is a very cool meteorite originally sold to us as a pairing with NWA 801, a CR2. Two of the stones …
Northwest Africa 7892, CO3.0
This stone is one of the most pristine chondrites known. All carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites have experienced some thermal and aqueous alteration. …
NWA 10085, K4
After a first round of analyses on the microprobe at UCLA, this stone left us with more questions than answers. It is …
NWA 10088, LL3
This stone’s total known weight is 209.6 grams and it has been classified as an LL3 S1 W4. This is the ~180 …
Northwest Africa, carbonaceous chondrite
This cute 12 gram stone is an unclassified carbonaceous chondrite that resembles CM’s most closely. However, it is very solid and moderately …
NWA xxxx, LL3.00
This meteorite is a fun one; I’m adding it because we’ve been dragging our feet about cutting it, and it’s pretty enough …
NWA, Unequilibrated Ordinary Chondrite
This stone is currently being analyzed. It’s definitely a fresh unequilibrated chondrite of some sort. Guesses have ranged from CR2 to LL3; …
NWA, Unequilibrated Ordinary Chondrite II
Northwest Africa has afforded collectors a rare opportunity to own specimens they otherwise would never be able to obtain. A fresh, complete, …
Northwest Africa, CV3
This beautiful stone with weathered fluting and flow lines was purchased in Erfoud from Mohamed Benzaki. 473.53 + 242.43 gram fitting fragments.
Northwest Africa, CO3
This fresh carbonaceous chondrite was purchased at Tucson, 2014. 493.9 grams
NWA, ordinary chondrite I
This ordinary chondrite has one of the nicer shapes I’ve seen; it’s concave, and flares to a point. It also has an …
NWA, ordinary chondrite II
This stone was one of the nicer ones we saw on our 2011 trip to Morocco. It’s flight-marked with flow-lines and lipping; …
NWA, ordinary chondrite III
At the 2019 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, Moussa Minerals seemed to be everywhere: they had multiple tents set up at Kino Park, …
Novato, L6
For the story behind the stones, click here.
Octave Mine, H5
This stone was found on Christmas day in 2004, by a metal-detectorist in Arizona. It is classified as an H5 S1 W3. …
Olton, H3.5
When two stones were found near Olton, Texas in 1948, they were initially thought to be paired with each other — and …
Oum Dreyga (Amgala), H3-5
Amgala was a small fall that occurred in a remote part of Western Sahara; the meteorite itself is a pretty breccia of …
Palca de Aparzo, L5
Oscar Turone visited the location and documented this 1988 fall — per the Meteoritical Bulletin: This 1995 Meteoryt! Magazine article describes the …
Potter, L6
This rock isn’t particularly noteworthy; Potter is a common type, has a large total known weight, and it is well-distributed. It is …
Putinga, L6
The Meteoritical Bulletin has scant information on the fall, but I was able to track down the following paper: Studies of Brazilian …
Park Forest, L6
At approximately 11:50 PM local time on March 26, 2003, the Chicago suburb of Park Forest was pelted with rocks from space. …
Patrimonio, L6
Patrimonio fell on August 6, 1950, in Brazil. Per Grady’s Catalogue of Meteorites, approximately 20 stones were recovered, the largest of which …
Pervomaisky, L6
Pervomaisky fell on 26 December, 1933, in the USSR. A total of 97 stones weighing a total of approximately 49 kg were …
Plainview, H5
Plainview is one of the larger American meteorites ever found, by weight. At least a tonne of individuals and fragments have been …
Quitovac, L5
The story of Quitovac is very similar to those of many other chondrites from the Southwest. Metal-detecting prospectors near the gold mines …
Richardton, H5
Richardton fell in North Dakota at 21:48 on 19 June, 1918. The bolide was seen up to 400 miles away, and sonic …
Roosevelt County 082, H4
Roosevelt County, New Mexico, is home to many deflation surfaces like this one, near Arch Lake: Many meteorite hunters have successfully hunted …
Santa Vitoria do Palmar, L3
This Brazilian find was supposedly related to a fireball seen in the region only six years earlier, but the extensive chemical and …
Sołtmany, L6
On April 30, 2011, just past 6am local time, a ~1 kilogram meteorite fell through the roof and eaves of a building …
Sutter’s Mill, California
Sutter’s Mill was another one of those falls that happens at just the wrong time. We had radar data almost immediately, knew …
Stecker, ordinary chondrite
This small stone came from a long-time meteorite dealer. He purchased it along with a lot of Caddo County, but this piece …
Sulagiri, LL6
Sulagiri is the largest witnessed fall to occur on the Indian subcontinent. Over 150 kilograms of stones were recovered following a large …
Thuathe, H4/5
The Meteoritical Bulletin write-up contains a fairly detailed account of the fall: Here are a few papers describing the fall: The Thuathe …
Tulia (a), H3-4
From Meteoritics Vol. 17, pp 229-230. Many different finds have been identified in the area, but Tulia (a) is an unusual unequilibrated …
Vernon County, H6
This meteorite has a wonderful history. A bright fireball was observed on the morning of March 25, 1865. The fall was witnessed …
Wellman (c), H4
There’s precious little about this meteorite available online: a 1974 paper by Derek W. Sears states that the meteorite had a terrestrial …
Weston, H4
Weston was the first witnessed, recovered, American fall. There are some great anecdotes from the eyewitnesses and other important persons of the …
Whetstone Mountains, Arizona
On the night of June 22, 2009, a small asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere above Mexico, moving roughly NNE. It broke up over …