Rocks From Space Picture of the Day April 16, 2007
Welcoming the latest guests
A 499 gram individual of the Bassikounou meteorite. The fall occurred on October 12, 2006 near the village of Bassikounou in the far south east corner of Mauretania, close to the border of Mali. Bassikounou is the latest recovered fall that we know of, making it the meteoritic material with the shortest terrestrial lifetime currently available on this planet. The Mauretanian broadcast and newspapers reported on the fireball and sound phenomena on October 13 and the following days. Several herdsmen collected stones in the morning of October 13 and the following weeks. In February 2007 an expedition raised by a Moroccan entrepreneur reached Bassikounou, interviewed eye witnesses and was led to several places where meteorites fell. A total of ~ 31kg was both purchased from locals and recovered from the strewnfield. Most individuals show a thick and dull black primary fusion crust with some displaying later stage fragmentation and secondary crust. Bassikounou is an ordinary chondrite, classification is pending. On the lower left part of the image the individual pictured displays a remarkably large metal concretion protruding through the fusion crust. The metal is devoid of any signs of oxidation. NMR scalecube is 1cm each side.
Credit & copyright: Dr. Svend Buhl (www.niger-meteorite-recon.de)
Author & editor: Michael Johnson (SPACEROCKSINC.com)
 | ||||
