Tiglit Aubrite Fall 0.27g Enstatite Achondrite Meteorite CRUSTED Fragment - C

Description

Item for auction is a 0.27g fragment of the Tiglit Aubrite meteorite that fell in Morocco late last year, dropping a rare classification on earth. On December 9, 2021, around 8:30 pm, many people from southern Morocco reported an important fireball east of Guelmim and northeast of Laayoune moving in a northwest to southeast direction. Two field missions to the fall area were conducted a few days after the fall by A. Aaronson, M. Fouadassi, M. Aoudjehane, L. Zennouri, H. Chennaoui (FSAC and ATTARIK foundation). Pieces of the fall were found close to Tiglit village and Oued Tiglit. Several eyewitnesses were interviewed. Among eyewitnesses was Mr. Ali Boutmoula, a nomad living in a tent exactly in the center of the fall area. At the time of fall he was outside his tent by the river, while his uncle was inside the tent. He saw a greenish light moving from northwest toward southeast (coming from Ouinet Ait Oussa located northwest from his position). He walked for a few " then he heard a large explosion over his head in the valley and the mountains, followed by two or three more explosions after the first one. The last explosion was a high-pitched sound like a bang in a tin bucket. He thought it was thunder. Stones were recovered all around his tent. A second eyewitness Mr. Hmadi Elkebchi was sitting with his family in Oum Laouitgat village. He heard Loud explosion coming from the west followed by three sonic booms, the last one was high pitched like hitting a metal object. He thought it was an earthquake. Mr. Lbaz Brahim is a third eyewitness living in Oum Laouitgat village. While leaving a mosque, he saw a blue colored fireball followed by a green light. He heard a large explosion, then a second and a third one, he reported a metallic sound like hitting tin can. The trajectory he reported was coming from Aouinat Ait Oussa in the northeast heading southwest toward Tiglit. The next day, he went searching for pieces of the meteorite, and all the valley smelled of sulfur. He found one of the largest stones. Mr. Mouloud Rkhaoui and Mr. Mohamed Dghaich, nomad shepherds who were camping about ten km east of Tiglit, heard three sonic booms followed by a whistling. In the morning, they went to the supposed fall area and found some pieces. The day after the fireball report, hundreds of hunters and people from the area went searching for the fall. All hunters reported a strong odor of sulfur in the entire valley. The first pieces were found in the same day near the junction of Oued Tiglit and Guelta Moukiyoud which flow towards Oued Draa. The region is steep with significant relief. Some pieces were found on a small relief called Assafaou which is part of the starting point of Jbel Bani the most important mountain of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas chain. The main mass was found at at 28.404°N, 10.373°W, and the strewn field extends to about 30 km towards the WNW.
Six large pieces and many small fragments were recovered. The main mass is a 736 g complete stone, the other large pieces include: 507 g (broken), 310 g (complete), 209 g (complete), 130 g (broken), and 40 g (broken). Exterior is covered with multi-colored (green-orange-brown) fusion crust. Broken surfaces reveal a mild breccia of mm- to cm-sized fractured bright white pyroxene grains, elongate to stubby, permeated and bounded by shock-darken domains. Large pyroxenes include black material as needles or grain inclusions. Samples are fragile and easily broken. Magnetic susceptibility, measured on different stones, ranges from log χ (× 10-9 m3/kg) = 2.7 to log χ (× 10-9 m3/kg) = 3.6 (H. Chennaoui Aoudjehane, FSAC).
The meteorite comes in a quality labeled display case along with a Big Kahuna Meteorites Certificate of Authenticity / Specimen Card. Scale cube in photo is 1cm on each side, and not included in sale. Big Kahuna combines shipping, and addresses must be in the English language, to facilitate customs input at US Postal Service. Non-English addresses cannot be shipped, and may incur additional fees for handling. We no longer ship to China or Italy.
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