New Concord meteorite, New Concord, Muskingum Co., Ohio, USA

Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	40° 0' North , 81° 46' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	40.00000,-81.76667
Non-native locality type:	Meteorite
Meteorite Class:	L6 chondrite meteorite
Meteoritical Society Class:	L6
Metbull:	View entry in Meteoritical Bulletin Database
Köppen climate type:	Cfa : Humid subtropical climate

Ordinary chondrite, veined (L6)
Fall, 1 May 1860; 230 kg, shower

Just after noon numerous detonations and roaring sounds were heard accompanying the appearance of a NW moving and unusually luminous bolide and a shower of stones fell over an ~16 km x 5 km region. A number were seen as black specks in the sky before falling with several penetrating the ground to a depth of 0.6—0.9 m. A colt was killed by one of the stones. Over 30 stones, almost invariably covered with a black fusion crust, were found — the most massive stone (~47 kg) cutting two roots at the base of an oak tree. Thin sections reveal numerous olivine- and orthopyroxene-rich chondrules (≤1.5 mm) within a groundmass of olivine, orthopyroxene, and opaques. Opaque material is usually interstitial to the silicates and frequently concentrated at chondrule rims. Plagioclase (albite) is even more Na-rich than is normal for ordinary chondrites. Within the Fe-Ni metal, kamacite is considerably more abundant than taenite. Other minor phases (listed below) are more or less expected in well-described chondrites of sufficient mass. Uniform olivine composition (Fa22), orthopyroxene composition (Fs21), and total iron abundance (21.6%) are all characteristic of the L group of ordinary chondrites. Veining plus inconsistencies in gas retention ages (0.74 Ga for He;1.7 Ga for Ar) make it clear that New Concord has suffered significant shock. Limonite stains in some samples of such a widely witnessed fall may be due either to late recovery or to inadequate storage procedures of the particular samples.

L chondrites are the most abundant geochemical group of meteorites with L6 the most common petrologic type. Of the 269 witnessed L6 falls, New Concord is the 4th most massive L6 of those currently listed with the Meteoritical Bulletin Database (Feb 2016). The largest individual New Concord stone has been at Marietta College while a number of other moderately large masses are distributed elsewhere.

Mineral List

11 valid minerals.

Meteorite/Rock Types Recorded

References

External Links