141 grams. H5
TKW 50 kg. Observed fall 15 December 1978 about 10 km north of the village of Nuevo Mercurio, Zacatecas, Mexico.
Herbert writes:
On the evening of this day, 37 years ago, a meteorite shower fell about 10 kilometers north of the village of Nuevo Mercurio, Zacatecas, Mexico, after a bright fireball was observed over a radius of at least 200 kilometers. More than 300 stones have been recovered from an almost circular strewnfield, with a diameter of ~4 kilometers. The total weight of these meteorites is not known, but it is certainly over 5 kg. An unusual feature of the Nuevo Mercurio meteorite is it's high porosity, resulting in a significantly lower density (3.17 g/cm³) than average (3.40 g/cm³ for H chondrites).
The 141 gram specimen shown here was collected by Bob Haag when he traveled to the strewnfield in the early 1980's. It has pronounced contraction cracks in the fusion crust on one side, and signs of orientation (rollover lip) on the other. |