Bur-Gheluai meteorite, Qeycad, Mudug Region, Somaliai

Regional Level Types
Bur-Gheluai meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Qeycad	Town
Mudug Region	Region
Somalia	Country

Ordinary chondrite (H5, xenolithic)
Fell, 16 October 1919; 120 kg

After a fireball appeared, detonations were heard, and a shower of more than 100 stones fell in the district of Bur-Hacaba. The largest had a mass of 15.4 kg with over 30 stones with masses > 1 kg. A hand lens reveals indistinct chondrules and flecks of Fe-Ni metal on exposed surface areas. Microscopically, euhedral olivine and clinopyroxene crystals are found within the matrix along with barred olivine (BO) and radiating pyroxene (RP) chondrules. Total iron (~25 wt%), olivine, and orthopyroxene compositions (Fa19 and Fs16, resp.) are characteristic of the H (high iron) ordinary chondrite chemical group. Mineralogically, the meteorite is dominated by olivine, Ca-poor orthopyroxene, and Ca-poor clinopyroxene. Kamacite, taenite, troilite, and lesser amounts of fine-grained albitic plagioclase account for most of the additional mass. Accessory chromite and merrillite are present as well. The mostly interstitial opaques include very small amounts of copper, ilmenite, and isocubanite. Small limonite tarnish in photographs and stains on thin sections indicate that some fragments were either not recovered immediately or were, perhaps, stored under less than perfect conditions.

A number of xenolithic fragments have been reported. Martensite — disordered kamacite, frequently due to shock, directionally disturbed plessite, and other cracks in both chondrules and matrix are also present. In addition, seemingly related complications within cosmogenic isotopes have been interpreted as due to a two-stage exposure history with (fragment producing) impacts at ~10 Ma and 0.6 Ma during the long interval before the preterrestrial meteoroid reached the earth.

Bur-Gheluai is the 8th most massive of 171 witnessed falls listed exactly as an 'H5' with The Meteoritical Bulletin Database (as of March 2016). [The 4 ton Jilin, China H5 fall is the most massive of all ~900 observed ordinary chondrite falls.] The H group of ordinary chondrites (ordinary chondrites relatively high in total Iron) account for a little more than 30% of all meteorite falls.

Much of the mass, including the large 15.4 kg mass, has been kept in Rome at the Museo di Mineralogia dell'Universitá.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References