Boguslavka meteorite, Pogranichny District, Primorsky Krai, Russiai

Regional Level Types
Boguslavka meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Pogranichny District	District
Primorsky Krai	Krai
Russia	Country

Iron meteorite, hexahedrite (IIAB)
Fall, 18 Oct 1916; 256 kg, 2 pieces

TEXT
Just before noon, the population within an area of about 500 km in diameter observed a riveting sound and light show as two masses of meteoritic iron [~5.5% Ni] fell only 1 km apart near the small village of Boguslavka. Three days later masses of 198.6 kg and 58.1 kg were found in 1-2 m deep holes — incompletely covered by their fusion crusts. Where the crust was missing, the two masses matched almost perfectly along a cubic cleavage plane [a 3rd endpiece was never found]. Boguslavka is an almost perfect example of the textural subclass of IIAB hexahedrites within our current classification scheme. Boguslavka is not just an essentially monomineralic meteorite with a few minor accessory phases — almost all of its recovered mass was originally part of a single cubic (e.g., 'hexahedrite') crystal. The very minor but ubiquitous phases — schreibersite, troilite, cohenite, daubréelite, and graphite — are precisely those we often find in unweathered iron meteorites. Furthermore, these minor phases are frequently found in telltale associations. Troilite nodules are often rimmed by schreibersite and cohenite. The troilite is usually accompanied by daubréelite. Cohenite is often found decomposing into graphite. The remaining fusion crust — which has survived the meteorite's pre-fall breakup — contains both magnetite and wüstite.

Boguslavka is the most massive witnessed fall among IIAB hexahedrites. The Sikhote-Alin IIAB meteorite fall of 1947 was much more massive (23 tons were recovered). However, Sikhote-Alin was a very coarse octahedrite (Ogg) with additional taenite and plessite not found in the hexahedrites. Type IIAB iron meteorites represent over 10% of the known iron meteorite types.

The larger and largely undivided 196.6 kg mass is with the Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Most of the smaller mass (43.2 kg) is in Odessa. Much of the literature concerning Boguslavka is in Russian and may provide additional mineralogical information not listed here.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References