Linum meteorite, Oberhavel, Brandenburg, Germanyi

Regional Level Types
Linum meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Oberhavel	District
Brandenburg	State
Germany	Country

Ordinary chondrite (L6)
Fall, 5 September 1854; 1.862 kg, a single stone

At approximately the same time that a powerful detonation was heard, a single meteoritic stone was driven over a meter deep into a moor. The meteorite was quickly recognized as a normal meteorite, but is today more specifically classified as a well-equilibrated L6 ordinary chondrite with indistinct (mostly olivine-rich) chondrules . While the meteorite has been well curated, the brief encounter with the swampy soil has left some minor rust stains in the midst of a mostly light colored matrix sprinkled with relic chondrules and minor opaques. Pyroxenes, less prominent than in many chondrites, are in apparent equilibrium with olivine and coarse-grained albitic plagioclase is preset. In addition to the major expected silicates and troilite, a nearly full complement of not quite equilibrated Fe-Ni metal phases is present (kamacite, taenite, plus traces of plessite and tetrataenite are reported. Accessory phases include chromite and, as a bonus, two phosphate minerals (chlorapatite, merrillite) are reported as well. [The ubiquitous but often tiny meteoritic phosphates are incompletely reported or unreported in many meteorite studies].


Linum is one of 9 witnessed and reliably recorded L chondrite falls, including seven L6 chondrites, recovered in Germany between 1819 and 2013. With 409 total L falls listed at the Meteoritical Society's 'Meteoritical Bulletin Database', the L chondrites are the most numerous group among the ~1200 recovered meteorite falls. The main mass of the Linum meteorite is at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References