[meteorite-list] New Brazilian fall field trip report - The Vicencia Meteorite

From: Graham Ensor <graham.ensor_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2013 09:18:47 +0100
Message-ID: <CAJkn+kbMAtTMZPLLjmWkVNHAAKYn_p6PUrTdzPwVCaPcQiDtbQ_at_mail.gmail.com>

Great report and recovery Andre,

Graham

On Sat, Oct 5, 2013 at 3:15 AM, Andr? Moutinho <moutinho at bol.com.br> wrote:
> Hello all!
>
> I have arrived today from another field trip to recover the most recent Brazilian fall. I have solved to write this small report to let everybody know about this fall:
>
> This very interesting fall event occurred on a small district of Vicencia named Borracha. Vic?ncia is a small city located about 120 km from Recife city, the capital of Pernambuco state in Brazil northwest. According to residents, Borracha interestingly received its name because it grew very fast stretching like rubber, that means Borracha in Portuguese.
>
> Mr. Adeilson was working in front of his modest joinery in Borracha village on a sunny Monday day of September, 21st. At a certain moment at around 3:00 PM he stooped to pick up something on the the ground and suddenly heard a very loud noise of something that had just hit the ground nearby him. He did not know what had happened but soon noticed a very strange black rock on a small pit only about 1 meter from him (he told us he measured the distance from where he was and the meteorite pit with a measuring tape and this can be seen on some youtube videos). Mr. Adeilson caught the almost hammer stone that could have killed him and noticed that one side of the rock was still hot and the other cold.
>
> Many neighbors were in front of their houses and witnessed the impact event noticing only the loud noise of the meteorite impact on the ground. As usual, nothing at impact zone was heard or seen in the air except the ground hit impact. One or two of them were just on the exact impact location very few minutes ago.
>
> I had just arrived home from another hard work day on Friday 27th and read some Internet hot news concerning a possible new meteorite fall in Brazil. According to these news only a meteorite could have caused such event. I immediately called Dr. Elizabete Zucolotto, meteorite researcher and curator of the Brazilian NM. She also read the news and there was no doubt that it could be a meteorite fall. We had to go to that location immediately. We bought the flight tickets to Recife at that same night and traveled the following day.
>
> Arriving at Recife we rented a car and headed to Vic?ncia and then to Borracha village. On the way from Vic?ncia city to the village we started to notice the mountains were covered with sugar cane and banana plantations and started to notice that finding more pieces of this fall could possibly be harder than Varre-sai. At least in Varre-sai there were some pastures to search. The entrance for the village is near an alcohol plant. Finding the village was also hard as there was no signs on the way and we had to ask to many people we found on the way. A lot of them were drunk and we thought that the sugar cane plantion were only for local usage..
>
> The village is basically one road with houses on both sides and a small church. Interestingly the first person we have found on that village was Mr. Adeilson in front of his joinery that I have recognized by the videos and pictures. As hapenned in Varre-Sai with Mr. Germano, Mr Adeilson was already a famous person on that small village and had already given some interviews to TV channels and local radios. Fortunatelly the rock was still with him besides the fact that he had received many offers to sell but refused. The first lower offer he received was from a local resident that offered a new motorcycle.
>
> At fall location we made video interviews with Mr. Adeilson and some neighbors that witnessed the fall event. It was hard even for us that are Portuguese native to sometime understand what Mr. Adeilson said because of his strong accent. We then asked him if we could see the rock. He agreed and lead us to his modest house nearby the joinery. Holding the stone there was no doubt it was a beautiful super fresh meteorite that had fallen less than a week ago and was recovered still hot from the ground! We took pictures and talked to a lot of people that were in front of Mr. Adeilson's house attracted by the outer space visitor notice that spread like fire. There was no condition to try buying the stone at that moment and we decided to leave Mr. Adeilson's house and headed again to the fall area to try search on nearby mountains covered with plantations. Also we have used the best effective meteorite recovery method: teaching locals to find meteorites and offering them a reward.
>
> Another thing that must be done was trying to figure out the meteorite bolide direction and possible strewn field area. To accomplish this we tried to interview other residents further from the impact zone and to discover if someone had seen the bolide or heard the explosion in the air. Nobody saw any sign of the bolide or smoke in the air but we got some clues that some noise could have been heard on a nearby city. It was late that first day and we had to find some hotel to sleep. Surely there was no hotel on that very small village and we headed in the eventide to that nearby city that someone told people could have heard something.
>
> I was driving on the way to that city and our car was suddenly hit by something on the Zucolotto side window making a loud noise. Zucolotto screamed: we have been hit! Immediately she notice some rock pieces on her lap and car floor. How could this have happened? I then noticed my side window was opened and we realized that someone, possibly from a motorcycle with a turned off light, tried to catapult a rock from my side window that was opened. Certainly to assault us! Fortunately the rock missed my face and smashed against Zucolotto side window. We ran like crazy to the nearby city and stayed there that night. Nobody heard any sound there..
>
> On the following day, recovered from the scarying experience of the previous night, we returned to Vic?ncia and talked to the mayor of that city. We gave him an explanation concerning the meteorite and Zucolotto said she would provide the city a replica of the meteorite that had fallen in Borracha and also would return next month to help organizing a meteorite exposition on that city if we could afford to buy the meteorite from the owner. After talking to the mayor it was then time to return to Mr. Adeilson house to try buying the meteorite. Fortunately he was at home and after putting piles of money that maybe we would have to work years to gain and the promise the city would receive a meteorite replica he decided to sell me the meteorite. Mr. Adeilson's wife was very sick with depression and we really believe this gift from heaven will be of great value for them.
>
> I lent the meteorite to Dr. Zucolotto, that returned to RJ that same day and I stayed on the field trying to find more pieces and working with locals. I just have called her. She has already made a thin section and also sent samples for microcrobe analysis. Next week she will submit it to MetSoc.
>
> I will trade a good portion of this meteorite with NM, will keep some in may collection and will sell some slices. So if you are interested to have this amazing almost hammer meteorite on your collection please contact me off list (moutinho at gmail.com) and I will let you know when it will be available and classification.
>
> Pictures and videos can be found here: http://www.meteorito.com.br/meteoritos.php?action=view&pg=183&ct=&idT=2
>
> Regards,
>
> Andre Moutinho
> IMCA 2731
> http://www.meteorito.com.br
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Received on Sat 05 Oct 2013 04:18:47 AM PDT