Monze meteorite, Monze District, Southern Province, Zambiai

Regional Level Types
Monze meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Monze District	District
Southern Province	Province
Zambia	Country

Ordinary chondrite (L6)
Fell, 5 October 1950, 4:10 hrs; meteorite shower

An enormously bright fireball was seen in several African countries and enormous thunderous booms preceded a predawn impact which left a large number of small meteoritic stones [often 3-5 cm in diameter] scattered over a considerable region of what is now Zambia's Southern Province. However, specimens began to be reported to the outside world and recovered only after a week or so had passed. In time a request was made by one Chief Chongo to report to England's King George, to wit: 'Please send a piece of star to My King, George, and tell him what has happened in my country and what has visited us, for I know that he will be interested." The chief then assisted in recovery efforts as many people were frightened by the dramatic events and the strange stones.

Variegated colors, shapes, and textures are visible in the often unevenly preserved greenish-greyish matrices. Most stones were covered by a brown-black fusion crust, but fresh surfaces were sometimes present. Compositionally, total iron contents (21.6 wt%), olivine composition (Fa25) and low Ca-orthopyroxene ('hypersthene') are characteristic of the L-chondrite geochemical group. Mineralogically the meteorite consists primarily of dominant olivine and accompanying pyroxene along with minor plagioclase/maskelynite, troilite, and Fe-Ni metal. Fe-Ni metal consists of mostly tiny grains containing kamacite, taenite, and/or plessite. Accessory chromite is also reported. Olivine has been fractured by shock and exhibits mosaic extinction. Preterrestrial shocks have also deformed most plagioclase or converted it into maskelynite.

The L-group of ordinary chondrites (relatively low in total iron) are the largest group of classified witnessed meteorite falls and account for ~45% of all well-classified meteorite falls. The L6 petrologic type accounts for ~ 70% of the L-group chondrites. 272 meteorite falls had been classified exactly as 'L6' chondrites by early June 2017.

A good number of stones have been kept at the Rhodes-Livingston Museum in Zambia and the Zimbabwe National Museum. At some time the British National History Museum (NHM) in London obtained over 50 of the stones weighing ~2.5 kg in total, still preserved in 2000.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References