De Nova meteorite, Washington County, Colorado, USAi

Regional Level Types
De Nova meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Washington County	County
Colorado	State
USA	Country

Ordinary chondrite, veined (L6)
Find, 1963; 12.7 kg

A wedge-shaped 12.7 kg stone was plowed up ~3 km west of the De Nova post office. The meteorite may have been a fragment of a much larger mass as two sides were covered with a well-developed fusion crust while other faces with little or no crust appeared to represent breaking planes. Inspections reveal indistinct chondrules within a largely equilibrated matrix with some fractures and veins. Compositionally, equilibrated olivine (Fa23) and low Ca-orthopyroxene ('hypersthene') are characteristic of the L-chondrite geochemical group. Mineralogically the meteorite consists primarily of dominant olivine plus pyroxene accompanied by minor troilite and Fe-Ni metal. Accessory chromite, copper, ilmenite and isocubanite have also been reported.

A U-He age of ~265 Ga is reported, possibly indicative of a major collision involving an intermediate parent body (IPB) subsequent to the original formation of a putative L-chondrite parent body. A relatively long terrestrial exposure age (TEA) of t= 4.6±1.3 ka has also been reported [C-14 dating].

As with many meteorites recovered by Harvey H. Nininger, the largest remaining mass is held by the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University (4.5834 kg in 2017).

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References