N'Kandhla meteorite, uMzinyathi District Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africai

Regional Level Types
N'Kandhla meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
uMzinyathi District Municipality	District
KwaZulu-Natal	Province
South Africa	Country

Iron meteorite, Octahedrite (IID, Om)
Fall, 1 Aug 1912; 17.2 kg

After detonations and a trail of smoke, an iron meteorite (Ni ~10%) was recovered after shattering some rocks while forming a 25 cm deep and 60 cm deep hole near the junction of the Buffalo and Tugela Rivers. While witnesses were stunned and frightened by the deafening sounds and metallic mass which fell within a few meters of one woman, their descriptions of events are a very close match for what an expert would simply call a normal fall. A fusion crust covers the entire and somewhat flattened mass which is marked by irregular regmaglypts and cracks. The dominant octahedral structure of the interior is characterized by somewhat shocked kamacite complemented by taenite and plessite. Schreibersite in diverse forms is the most abundant of the frequently brecciated accessories. Smaller amounts of troilite accompanied by daubréelite are also common. Magnetite and wüstite are found in the oxidized fusion crusts.

N'Kandhla is one of the small class of IID iron meteorites with 22 members. It is the least massive of the 3 witnessed IID falls. The main mass is at the Natural History Museum in London.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References