Cherokee Springs meteorite, Spartanburg Co., South Carolina, USA

Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	35° 1' 60'' North , 81° 52' 60'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	35.0333333333, -81.8833333333

Ordinary chondrite (LL6; S1; W0)
Fell, 1 July 1933 at 09:42; 8.4 kg, 2 stones

After passing over adjoining counties of North and South Carolina, two stones (5.7 kg and 2.7 kg) were recovered after falling 11 km apart in Spartanburg County. For a couple of minutes some people near Cherokee Springs had thought they heard an airplane approaching, but after seeing a stone strike the ground they soon recovered the larger stone about 25 cm from a freshly created 25-30 cm deep hole. Similar sounds accompanied the smaller stone which landed only 15 m from a lady working on a farm. Both crudely prismatic stones were partially oriented and covered by a nearly complete fusion crust. They appeared to have broken apart from a single stone as their bases could be crudely fit together. Only vestiges of spheroidal and oval chondrites (up to 12 mm in size) are seen within a granular matrix as the silicates are very largely equilibrated. The dominant olivine (F28.0) and accompanying orthopyroxene are accompanied by interstitial untwinned plagioclase. Fe-Ni metal and troilite (≤ 5 mm) are found as aggregates between the silicates. The somewhat Ni-rich Fe-Ni metal has experienced some serious disruptions as martensite and disordered taenite have been revealed through Mössbauer spectroscopy. Very small amounts of diopside, Ca-poor clinopyroxene, and accessory chromite are also reported.

A cosmic ray exposure (CRE) age of 11.9 Ma has been reported which may reflect membership in a small cohort of LL6 meteorites with similar CRE ages. The LL chondrites are the smallest group of ordinary chondrites (~10% of fully classified falls) with nearly half of them (42) classified exactly 'LL6' chondrites at the Meteoritical Bulletin Database (in early 2016). The main masses of both stones ('fragments') have been at the United States National Museum (Washington, DC).

Mineral List

6 valid minerals.

References

External Links