[meteorite-list] Kunashak

From: Bernd Pauli HD <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:18:24 2004
Message-ID: <3E402EB3.8CEE49A4_at_lehrer.uni-karlsruhe.de>

Ron wrote:

> I really appreciate you finding these
> articles. Keep up the good work!

So do I and many other list members.
Thank you Mark - two thumbs up !!

Mark kindly wrote:

> A large meteorite fell recently in the Urais area.
> It exploded 22 miles over the earth's surface. Its
> fragments were scattered over an area of about
> 150 square kilometers. Many of these fragments
> already have been found and are being studied by
> Soviet scientists. They weigh up to 40 kilograms each.

According to the Catalog of Meteorites:

A shower of about 20 stones fell, total weight over 200 kg,
the largest stones weighing 120 kg, 40 kg and 36 kg.

It is shock stage S4 and my Kunashak slice that I purchased
from Mike Farmer some time ago clearly shows these shock
veins, abundant FeNi, and also a beautiful armored chondrule.

> Its fragments were scattered over an
> area of about 150 square kilometers.

On page 27 of Vagn Buchwald's "Iron Meteorites", the distribution
ellipse of the Kunashak shower can be seen. Interestingly, some of
the larger masses fell quite close to several local lakes so that
we can assume that some of the stones plunged into these lakes.
The major axis of the dispersion ellipse was about 25.5 km.

> (Mark note: Possibly the Kunashak fall on June 11,
> 1949 in Chelyabinskaya, Russia. L6 Chondrite)

The Catalog says:

Fell 1949, June 11, 08:14 hrs

Best regards,

Bernd
Received on Tue 04 Feb 2003 04:20:51 PM PST