Chelyabinsk LL5 Impact Melt
Find / Fall: Fall – February 15, 2013
Location: Chelyabinskaya oblast’, Russia
Classification: Chondrite LL5
On February 15, 2013 the world was shocked by the entry of a large cosmic body over Russia. Thousands of small pieces have been recovered from this event and are now known as Chelyabinsk meteorites.
Just after the formation of the solar system the parent body of the Chelyabinsk meteorites suffer a tremendous impact out in space. This impact melted portions of the rock and forced liquid glassy material into cracks and holes in the surviving mass. When the asteroid exploded in our atmosphere many of these glassy masses became individual meteorites made completely of impact melt material.
In contrast to the normal Chelyabinsk stone meteorites they are dark gray to black throughout and have a different surface appearance. They have a fusion crust but it is not made from melted chondrite rock but is from the remelting of this original impact melt material. They are shaped by ablation into nodules of rounded form like many of the normal meteorites. Some larger pieces of Chelyabinsk have been found to be a mixture of normal stone and impact melt.
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