Ufana meteorite, Babati District, Manyara Region, Tanzaniai

Regional Level Types
Ufana meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Babati District	District
Manyara Region	Region
Tanzania	Country

Enstatite Chondrite, low-iron [EL6; S2]
Fall of 5 August 1957, 189.2 g


Near sunset a fireball was seen and loud detonations were heard over a radius of 130 kilometers — and two small meteorite fragments were found south of Ufana. Ufana is an Enstatite Chondrite, a class of rare meteorites formally defined by specific elemental ratios and by their earthlike isotopic ratios. Mineralogically, however, Enstatite Chondrites are strikingly different from most other meteorites as well from earth rocks. Most obvious is the dominant presence of iron-poor Enstatite accompanied by accessory Fe-Ni metal, Troilite and minor schreibersite. Even more interesting are the various very reduced mineral phases. Many of these phases are either extremely rare or unknown in terrestrial rocks. The presence of ferroan alabandite marks Ufana as a member of the EL (low iron) chemical group of the Enstatite chondrites. Ufana is also one of a small handful of meteorites — almost all of them Type EL6 — which contain Sinoite, a silicon oxy-nitride.

For such a small meteorite, Ufana presents an exceptionally unusual mineralogical portfolio.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References