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Thin section.   L3

TKW 160 kg. Observed fall 19 April 2018, Oyo, Nigeria.


 

Steve writes:

Aba Panu fell on the afternoon of April 19th, 2018. Witnesses reported a large fireball that detonated 30 km over the Nigerian state of Oyo, scattering numerous stones between the villages of Ipapo and Tede. (Coincidentally, a similar detonation occurred two years earlier over that same state.) The meteorite is named after the small village of Aba Panu (population about 1670), which is located near the center of the strewn field. (Photo 9 shows a map of the area at various magnifications.)

NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies recorded the event at 14:02:27. They estimated a 20.9 km/s (13 mile/s) entry velocity (or about 45,000 miles per hour) and a total impact energy of 0.23 kilotons. Though the MetBul lists the total known weight as 160 kg, the Nigerian government is estimated to have collected an additional 100 kg not included in that MetBul number.

Aba Panu is an L3 chondrite meteorite - one of only seven witnessed falls of this type (and the only publicly available one of the group). Most of the stones are rounded and generally lack fusion crust, though occasionally some crust is found preserved in shallow regmaglypts. Internally the stones are gray in color, though a few exhibit grayish-green exteriors. While shock veins are rare, many stones display areas of rounded to angular light-colored clasts (some of these clasts have been identified as type L5 and L6 material).

As an L3 meteorite, Aba Panu is comparatively low in metal; its chondrules are quite pristine, having undergone a very low degree of alteration on its parent body. Quite densely packed, these chondrules vary in size from a tenth to several millimeters across and appear white, gray, or crème-colored in normal light. Most chondrule types are present in Aba Panu, with many being shocked and/or armored.

There are lots of examples of Aba Panu meteorites that can be seen on various websites (including some really nice slices on eBay at the moment), so I thought I'd offer instead some thin section images. Photos 1 and 2 show the full slide in xpol and white light. Photos 3 through 8 offer examples of some of the various kinds of chondrules seen in these meteorites. The entire xpol image is available here (I apologize for the misspelling of the meteorite's name!):

High Resolution Image

For those new to GigaPan, click on the diagonal arrows to the right of the image to enter full screen mode, then use your mouse and its scroll wheel to pan around and zoom in and out.