Tirhert meteorite, Fam El Hisn Pachalik, Tata Province, Souss-Massa Region, Moroccoi

Regional Level Types
Tirhert meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Fam El Hisn Pachalik	Town
Tata Province	Province
Souss-Massa Region	Region
Morocco	Country

Eucrite, unbrecciated
Fell 9 July 2014; 8 kg

After a brilliant fireball and multiple sonic booms, a number of stones were recovered - most covered with a black fusion crust. The largest stone was 1.3 kg in mass. White plagioclase and honey brown pyroxenes dominate the meteorite's friable mass, but mm-size opaques are seen as well. In addition to the texturally equilibrated plagioclase and pyroxene, minor amounts of silica, ilmenite, chromite, troilite, and Ni-poor iron are found. Oxygen isotopes [Δ17O = -0.227 — -0.279] and Fe/Mn ratios in low-Ca pyroxene and augite (~32, ~33, respectively) mark Tirhert as a likely normal member of the normal suite of HED meteorites (Howardites-Eucrites-Diogenites) and consequently a probable fragment from the asteroid 4 Vesta.

Tirhert is the most recent of 35 recorded Eucrite falls and the 14th most massive of the several hundred Eucrites in human possession. As significant portions of the material are in scientific custody we shall presumably be discovering more about Tirhert in coming years and decades.

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