An improbable concentration of basaltic meteorite falls (HED and mesosiderite) in the mid‐20th century

Abstract

The fall rate of HED basaltic meteorites (howardites, eucrites, diogenites) has not been constant in the 20th century, while the fall rate of chondrites has been constant within error. Thirteen of the 26 dated HED falls (day of fall known, 1900 through 1989) fell in 1924 through 1939. A fall cluster (not a meteorite stream) like this will occur in less than one in 100 random distributions of fall days. The proportions of HED types in the whole cluster are statistically identical to those of the whole historical record of HED falls, as is the distribution of cosmic ray exposure ages. In a subset of the cluster, 1924 through 1933, eight of those nine HED falls from have exposure ages of 10–20 Ma; this grouping is statistically distinct from that of the historical record. The mesosiderite meteorites share many chemical and isotopic properties with the HEDs but are not from the same parent body. However, the dates of the three mesosiderite falls of the 20th century (all in 1924 through 1939) are a likely sampling of the distribution of HED fall dates; less than one in 200 random distributions of three fall dates would have them all in a given IS year interval of the 20th century. If the concentration of HED and mesosiderite falls in 1924 through 1939 is not a result of chance (odds of less than 1 in 200), it must have had a cause or causes. The cause(s) are not dear but appear(s) to have operated: on parent bodies only of basaltic meteorites; on a number of such parent bodies (mesosiderite and at least one HED); distant from Earth; and so as to produce a duster of only 15 years duration. This duration is much shorter than the expected time scales or orbital evolution of asteroidal fragments.

The 1925 meteorite fall near Ellemeet and Serooskerke, the Netherlands

“…This makes it likely that diogenite meteorites such as Serooskerke and Ellemeet could be sourced from asteroid 4 Vesta directly. However, the possible temporal clustering of HED meteorite impacts associated with near‐earth sources (Treiman ; Saul and Lawniczak ) raises the question if Ellemeet could have been derived from one of the near‐Earth vestoids. As Ellemeet is a brecciated meteorite that contains small chondritic fragments (Mittlefehldt ), the lithologic composition illustrates that it was brecciated during an impact and mixed with impactor material before its final lithification.…”