Lohawat meteorite, Jodhpur District, Jodhpur Division, Rajasthan, Indiai

Regional Level Types
Lohawat meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Jodhpur District	District
Jodhpur Division	District
Rajasthan	State
India	Country

Howardite (achondrite, polymict breccia )
Fall - 30 Oct 1994; 40 kg


After a bright fireball and sonic boom, a 40 kg stone fell into an open field creating a .5 m deep crater. First reports emphasized that the stone was a regolith breccia (texturally similar to many lunar rocks). Indeed, the meteorite is something of a chemical and mineralogical melange with abundant plagioclase, various pyroxenes, lesser amounts of olivine, minor opaques, and glass. This particular mix is typical of the Howardite group, an achondrite group whose 16 falls represent ~1% of all meteorite falls. The Howardites themselves have been created by the mixing of Eucrites (plagioclase-pyroxene rich meteorites) with Diogenites (orthopyroxenites). Both the eucritic and diogenitic components have suffered various and numerous impacts on the original homeworld so that Lohawat has a few dominant minerals characterized by a multitude of compositions, shapes, and sizes. After its last major collision, Lohawat has been exposed to cosmic-rays for an unusually long ~110 Ma.

Lohawat is not just any Howardite — Lohawat is easily the most massive Howardite. Lohawat is over two times as massive as Dar al Gani 779 (a Libyan find) and nearly four times as massive as Kapoeta (a 1942 South Sudan fall). While only 6 kg were recovered for scientific study, let us hope to hear more in the future about the minor phases which accompany the battered plagioclase, pyroxenes, and olivine which have been the focus of studies reported in the literature. There is considerable evidence that most - but not all - Howardites, Eucrites, and Diogenites were once resident on the asteroid Vesta. Lohawat — quite literally — provides us with some new pieces to help to sort out this complex puzzle.

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References