Barratta meteorite, Barratta, Townsend Co., New South Wales, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Barratta meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Barratta	- not defined -
Townsend Co.	County
New South Wales	State
Australia	Country

Ordinary chondrite, black (L4; S4)
Found, 1845; 200 kg, 5 stones.

According to the Australian Museum in Sydney the first fragments of meteorite were first found in 1845. By the early 20th Century, five stones, ranging in mass from 65.8—14.1 kg, had been recovered. Barratta is an aggregate of chondrules and chondrule fragments which have been darkened by shock. Chondrule types include barred olivine (BO), porphyritic olivine (PO), and radiating pyroxene (PR) varieties. Olivine is quite variable (Fa22-32). Two petrographically distinct populations of chondrules are also present — prominent spherical chondrules within a glassy dark mesostasis with other poorly defined, irregular chondrules which have been partially integrated with the matrix. Fe-Ni metal and troilite are present only in minor amounts — usually interstitial to chondrules, but sometimes near chondrule rims. A cosmic ray exposure age of ~ 8.9 Ma has been reported.

Barratta is the most massive L4 chondrite listed at The Meteoritical Bulletin DataBase (as of February 2016). The L group of ordinary chondrites (ordinary chondrites relatively low in total iron) account for roughly 40% of all meteorite falls.

While three stones accounting for most of the mass are at the Australian Museum, 2 stones of slightly smaller total mass are held at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

The co-ordinates provided are for the general location of Barratta. The exact co-ordinates for the meteorite fragments are unknown.

Classification Problematics. The official classification of Barratta has been changed from the Catalogue of Meteorites (2000) L3.8 classification. The Meteoritical Society has, perhaps, relied on further information which suggests that the primary glass reported here is from non-representative portions of the meteorite?

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References