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Met Name

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Thin Sections

18.35 kg, broken in two parts of 15.66 kg and 2.69 kg.   H3-6

TKW 175 kg. Observed fall, August 4 or 5, 1998, in the western Sahara.


jnmczurich writes:

Dimensions of the 2 puzzle pieces are about 350 x 220 x 155 mm.

The individual is still in perfect fresh condition some 18 years after its fall (Aug 4 or 5, 1998). It was found only days after the fall happened. About 15% of the outer surface of the individual shows very thin secondary fusion crust. It is an indication of a very late break-up during the hot atmospheric flight. The inner contact faces of both parts of the individual are showing a shock plain.

Also interesting are the light colored impact marks. Most of the Zag chondrite crashed into a flank of a mountain side and slipped downhill. These intensive impact marks shows the dramatic end of the flight. Edges of the individual were broken away (and lost) by the sliding contact to its very final place of finding.

During my first travels across Morocco in January 1999, I was offered a large quantity of Zag fragments, including this wonderful looking individual, by local mineral & fossil dealers. They told me: "all or nothing". I couldn’t stand this situation without buying all fragments including this large individual. Out of these selection of fresh fragments I sent in a typical looking heavy brecciated sample for the classification work. Later on, the classification confirmed a H3-6 regolith breccitated chondrite.