Holbrook meteorite, Holbrook, Navajo County, Arizona, USAi

Regional Level Types
Holbrook meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Holbrook	City
Navajo County	County
Arizona	State
USA	Country

Ordinary Chondrite (L/LL6; S2; W0)
Fall, 19 July 1912;~250 kg, ~14,000 recovered stones

In the very late afternoon a spectacular meteorite shower was seen over several states before thousands of fragments fell near Holbrook. The largest was 6.6 kg (14.5 pounds) with others as small as a few mg. A number of them had well developed fusion crusts. Chondrules (0.5-1.5 mm in diameter) consist mainly of granular olivine and finely prismatic low-Ca orthopyroxene. They are intergrown within a recrystallized matrix which is also rich in olivine and pyroxene (much finer-grained) and is accompanied by Fe-Ni metal and troilite aggregates. The aggregates are scattered through the matrix and occasionally rim chondrule edges. Minor albitic plagioclase (An15), clinopyroxene, and chromite are in evidence as well as several other very minor accessory phases.

Holbrook is a member of the relatively sparse L/LL ordinary chondrite geochemical group which have total iron abundances intermediate to those of the L and LL chondrites (relatively low and very low iron, respectively). Only 11 witnessed L/LL falls are known to have been recovered (Meteoritical Database, January 2016). More specifically, Holbrook is one of only four witnessed falls listed exactly as L/LL6 ordinary chondrites at the Meteoritical Bulletin Database. The others are Cabezo de Mayo, Trysil, and Sultanpur.

Several additional Holbrook specimens have been recovered in the decades since the original fall of the meteorite shower. While badly weathered, these specimens have allowed for some intriguing studies of the rate of terrestrial weathering. [Estimates of the total mass listed at the Meteorite Bulletin Database and elsewhere are sometimes based only on the initial recovered mass.]

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References