Louisville meteorite, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USAi

Regional Level Types
Louisville meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Louisville	City
Jefferson County	County
Kentucky	State
USA	Country

Ordinary Chondrite, low-iron (L6)
Fell 31 Jan 1977; 1.3 kg, 4 stones

In mid afternoon a bright fireball appeared, accompanied by sonic booms and, soon thereafter, four meteoritic stones were recovered in the city of Louisville. While most of the witnesses were relatively nearby, the East to West traveling fireball had been observed from as far away as the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Under its fusion crust the primary constituents were silicates (esp. olivine), Fe-Ni metal (~20%), and minor troilite. The meteorite had also experienced significant terrestrial shock. In addition to olivine [Fa25], silicates included orthopyroxene and plagioclase (bytownite), recrystallized maskelynite, and trace amounts of augite. Minor amounts of chromite and apatite were also detected.

Cosmic ray exposure ages of 20-40 million years presumably record a preterrestrial impact which dislodged the earth-impacting meteoroid from within a larger meteoroid and exposed it to solar and galactic cosmic rays. Ar40/Ar39 ages suggest that a major impact occurred ~500 million years when the Louisville meteorite's parent body or a large fragment of that parent body suffered a catastrophic disruption.

The Louisville meteorite is one of 6 observed meteorite falls recovered from Kentucky. All witnessed falls were chondrites — including 4 ordinary chondrites.

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References