[meteorite-list] Why isn't Mreira classified as a Fall?

From: Carl Agee <agee_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 14:06:23 -0600
Message-ID: <CADYrzho+HauXsYP9jpv1xVkeiHVzPPC5JKoN=ZJrD42Aq_fFqA_at_mail.gmail.com>

"....a fireball was seen in the afternoon sky on December 16, 2012,
several school children saw the fireball explode and detonations were
heard near the village of Mehaires, Western Sahara. Pieces were
recovered approximately 40 miles south of Mehaires, near Mre?ra,
Mauritania, only a few days after the event."


This excerpt above is basically only "the proof" that it was a fall.
The lesson here is that NWA documentation needs to be meticulous with
identified individual eyewitnesses that corroborate with anything else
like cameras etc. (e.g. Chelyabinsk). What didn't measure up in this
case, was the anecdotal recovered fresh meteorites 40 miles from an
event that only anonymous school children witnessed. Also, no
documented strewn field was submitted (in situ photos etc.). I suppose
this can be a problem when people want to keep the actual strewn field
location a secret to keep out competing hunters?

No such thing as too much documentation.


Carl Agee
*************************************
Carl B. Agee
Director and Curator, Institute of Meteoritics
Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences
MSC03 2050
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131-1126

Tel: (505) 750-7172
Fax: (505) 277-3577
Email: agee at unm.edu
http://meteorite.unm.edu/people/carl_agee/



On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 1:29 PM, Ruben Garcia
<rubengarcia85382 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> So what held them back from calling this a fall? What more information
> did they need to swing the pendulum towards a fall as opposed to a
> find?
>
> Maybe Dr Agee, Dr Garvie or someone else involved in this
> classification can shed some light.
>
> On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 11:05 AM, Matt Morgan <mail at mhmeteorites.com> wrote:
>>
>> Mreira was submitted by me as a fall but the NomCom couldn't reach a consensus. So it was likely witnessed as stated in the description. As you noted Ruben it is as fresh as can be....
>> Matt Morgan
>>
>> On March 11, 2014 11:00:59 AM MDT, Ruben Garcia <rubengarcia85382 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>When I purchased Mreira months ago I was told by the Moroccan dealers
>>>that it was a witnessed fall. Ok, lets be real, anyone can say
>>>anything in order to make a sale. However, it looks as fresh as any
>>>fall I've ever seen/found.
>>>
>>>Photos here:
>>>http://www.mrmeteorite.com/mreirameteorite.htm
>>>
>>>Read the write up - it seems to agree that it is indeed a fall.
>>>
>>>History: According to Ait Hiba Abdelhad, a fireball was seen in the
>>>afternoon sky on December 16, 2012, several school children saw the
>>>fireball explode and detonations were heard near the village of
>>>Mehaires, Western Sahara. Pieces were recovered approximately 40 miles
>>>south of Mehaires, near Mre?ra, Mauritania, only a few days after the
>>>event. The strewn field is in the area called "Stailt Omgrain", which
>>>is a local nomadic name. This is south of Mehaires and north of the
>>>mountain "Galbe lahmar". Therefore this is a possible fall associated
>>>with the fireball of December 16, 2012.
>>>
>>>*******Possible fall? What else do you need? *******
>>>
>>>Meteoritical Bulletin for Mreira
>>>
>>>http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=Mre%C3%AFra&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&code=57653
>>
>> --
>> Matt Morgan
>> Mile High Meteorites
>> PO Box 151293
>> Lakewood CO 80215 USA
>> http://www.mhmeteorites.com
>> Find Us on Facebook
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Rock On!
>
> Ruben Garcia
> http://www.MrMeteorite.com
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Received on Tue 11 Mar 2014 04:06:23 PM PDT