Klein-Wenden meteorite, Ilfeld, Harztor, Nordhausen District, Thuringia, Germanyi

Regional Level Types
Klein-Wenden meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Ilfeld	Municipal Unit
Harztor	Municipality
Nordhausen District	Rural District
Thuringia	State
Germany	Country

Ordinary chondrite, high-iron (H6)
Fall, 16 September 1843; 3.25 kg

On a cloudless day a number of detonations announced the arrival of a new meteorite from out of the sky. The dark rock, covered with a black fusion crust, was too hot to touch when it first arrived . After it had cooled down, studies revealed what we now call an 'ordinary chondrite' consisting mostly of equilibrated silicates, Fe-Ni metal, and accessory troilite. These generic properties are, of course, the properties which we have come to expect for the great majority of witnessed meteorite falls (~80%). Olivine composition (Fa19) is the most immediate mineralogical indicator that Klein-Wenden is a member of the high-iron group of ordinary chondrites (or H chondrites) as the chondrites are currently defined and further subdivided. The H chondrites are a large geochemical group which constitute ~ 30% of all witnessed meteorite falls.

Klein-Wenden was the fourth of 11 witnessed German H chondrite falls recovered between 1785 and 1956. It is also second most massive of these 11 meteorites. The main mass (~2.5 kg) is housed at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.

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