[meteorite-list] Matt's embedded Sikhote-Alin

[bernd.pauli at paulinet.de]

Here's an excerpt from Buchwald:

"Several fragments had hit the trees of the dense taiga forest and
 had either broken them or damaged them. A 13.6 kg specimen was thus
 found firmly embedded in a partly split, 70 cm thick cedar tree."

and, on page 1126:

Date of fall: Feb 12, 1947

Time: 10.38 a.m. (local time)

Direction: N => S (10-15° east of north)

Initial inclination: 41°

The initial declination had increased to 60-70°
at the time of impact (zenith angle about 49°).

Apparent diameter of the bolide: 600m (with its luminous envelope).

Length of smoke trail: 33 ± 9 km

Dust trail observed for several hours.

Brightness of bolide: exceeded that of the sun (about - 26)

Point of complete breakup: 4 - 6 km  (Hemmungspunkt)

Initial velocity: 14.5 km/s

Geocentric velocity: 9.2 km/s

Heliocentric velocity: 37  km/s

Preatmospheric mass: 1000 t

Radius of light and sound phenomena: 300 - 400 km

Largest fragment: 1.745 kg

Specimens collected: 8.500

Total weight:	> 23 tons

It is estimated that a total of 70 tons fell, including dust.

Impact holes: 122 (¢ 0.5 - 26 m / 1 - 12 m)

Scatter ellipse:	1.6 km^2 ( N => S = 2.1 km /E => W = 1.0 km )

A smaller ellipse of 0.75 x 0.30 km was found to exist.

Final velocities: 0.1 - 1 km/s


Reference:

BUCHWALD V.F. (1975) Iron Meteorites (1975, Vol. 3, pp. 1123-1130).