Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

The cali meteorite fell: A new H/L ordinary chondrite

January 1, 2009

The fall of the Cali meteorite took place on 6 July 2007 at 16 h 32 ?? 1 min local time (21 h 32 ?? 1 min UTC). A daylight fireball was witnessed by hundreds of people in the Cauca Valley in Colombia from which 10 meteorite samples with a total mass of 478 g were recovered near 3??24.3'N, 76??30.6'W. The fireball trajectory and radiant have been reconstructed with moderate accuracy. From the computed radiant and from considering various plausible velocities, we obtained a range of orbital solutions that suggest that the Cali progenitor meteoroid probably originated in the main asteroid belt. Based on petrography, mineral chemistry, magnetic susceptibility, fhermoluminescence, and bulk chemistry, the Cali meteorite is classified as an H/L4 ordinary chondrite breccia.

Publication Year 2009
Title The cali meteorite fell: A new H/L ordinary chondrite
DOI 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2009.tb00729.x
Authors J.M.T. Rodriguez, J. Llorca, A.E. Rubin, J. N. Grossman, D.W.G. Sears, M. Naranjo, S. Bretzius, M. Tapia, M.H.G. Sepulveda
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Meteoritics and Planetary Science
Index ID 70036094
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse