Chandakapur meteorite, Jalna District, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Division (Aurangabad Division), Maharashtra, Indiai

Regional Level Types
Chandakapur meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Jalna District	District
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Division (Aurangabad Division)	Division
Maharashtra	State
India	Country

Ordinary chondrite, polymict breccia (L5,br)
Fall, 8 June 1838, 12:00 hrs; 8.8 kg

After detonations, three stones fell out of a cloudless sky along a nearly straight line at the villages of Chandakapur (5 kg), Denulgaon (3.4kg), and Berguon (0.45 kg). The stones were covered in places with a dark fusion crust and, in time, were sectioned and distributed. Examined over a half-century later, light grayish chondrules up to 6 mm in diameter were seen within compact gray masses sprinkled with minute grains of Fe-Ni metal, troilite, small rust spots, and occasional olivine crystals. A number of minor inclusions are present so that various regions are somewhat inconsistently blackish, greyish, and/or greyish white indicating a texturally and perhaps chemically 'polymict' breccia. Olivine-rich chondrules, often porphyritic, within a glassy mesostasis are the most common chondrules. Rounded pyroxene-rich chondrules are also abundant. Compositionally, largely equilibrated olivine (Fa24) and orthopyroxene ('hypersthene') are characteristic of the L-chondrite geochemical group. Mineralogically the meteorite consists primarily of dominant olivine and orthopyroxene accompanied by feldspathic material (likely plagioclase), troilite, and Fe-Ni metal (mostly kamacite). Accessory chromite, ilmenite, phosphates, and other minor sulfides are reported. Small rusty spots ('limonite') appear to have been enhanced by sectioning of the stones.

Moderately large masses (> 1kg) have been kept at the Royal Scottish Museum and at Oxford University with smaller pieces distributed to several additional institutions.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References