A meteorite impacted a house in San Carlos, UruguayOPEN ACCESS
P. Núñez Demarco, G. Tancredi, M.E. Zucolotto, L.L. Antonello, J.M.Monzón, V.Pezano, A.Tosi, C.Villaça
Planetary and Space Science
In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 26 September 2018
“Highlights
• The paper presents the case of a meteorite that impacted a house in San Carlos (Uruguay).
• The meteorite is classified as an LL6 chondritic breccia, with a shock stage S4 and a degree of weathering W0.
• It is the first Uruguayan meteorite to be confirmed.”
“Every year there are now almost two reports of meteorite falls that directly hit human beings or their belongings, which we call “damaging falls”. A new damaging fall occurred on September 18, 2015, when a meteorite impacted a house in the city of San Carlos (Maldonado, Uruguay). A 712 g stone broke through the asbestos cement roof and a wooden suspended ceiling. The meteorite and its fragments broke a wooden bed frame and a TV set. We conducted petrological and chemical analysis of the sample. The meteorite is classified as a LL6 chondritic breccia, with low content in siderophile minerals and moderate chondrule size. It has a shock stage S4 and a degree of weathering W0. This is the first Uruguayan meteorite to be confirmed. The prevalence of damaging falls is discussed.”
More on this probable fall (the meteorite has not officially been published as witnessed fall) from 2015 can be found on this page.
