Devgaon meteorite, Bijapur District, Chhattisgarh, Indiai

Regional Level Types
Devgaon meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Bijapur District	District
Chhattisgarh	State
India	Country

Ordinary chondrite, unequilibrated (H3.8; S2)
Fall, 12 February 2002; 12 kg, single stone
Fell in the village of Devgaon.

The Devgaon meteorite and its intact fusion crust was recovered almost immediately after it fell. The interior revealed distinct olivine and pyroxene chondrules within a mass that included aggregates, chondrule, fragments, and grains of the silicates, Fe-Ni metal, and troilite characteristic of virtually all 'ordinary chondrites'. However, unlike the 'normal' ordinary chondrite, Devgaon olivine (Fa17-19) and Ca-poor pyroxene (Fa4-20) in chondrules, clasts, and matrix are, respectively, mildly and distinctly unequilibrated. These unequilibrated silicates are further accompanied by glass and numerous inclusions. Chondritic clasts of different grades are accompanied by a number of exotic silica-rich objects and lesser numbers of Ca, Al-rich inclusions (CAIS). Early reports provide us with an introductory geochemical overview and partial mineralogical inventory. The cosmic ray exposure age of ~100 Ma is also unusually large for a chondrite. Eventually, perhaps, the combination of geochemical, mineralogical, and chronological information will lead us to a better understanding of how this particular meteorite was assembled on its original parent body and subsequently modified during its long journey through space before its final fall to earth.

The Devgaon meteorite is one of 44 unequilibrated (Petrologic Type 3) ordinary chondrite falls currently listed at the Meteoritical Bulletin Database (September 2015). However, only Devgaon and another Indian 1976 fall, Dhajala, are specifically classified as witnessed H3.8 chondrite falls. Indeed, including finds, Dhajala and Devgaon are the 1st and 3rd most massive, respectively, of all known H3.8 chondrites. A fairly large number (76) of H3.8 finds are known, but most of these are small (median mass ~140g) and, furthermore, include an unknown number of incompletely matched ['unpaired'] fragments of the same original falls. More importantly, the small exotic, scientifically precious inclusions found within the Type 3 finds are extremely vulnerable to terrestrial weathering. So Devgaon promises to be quite an interesting meteorite.

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References