VIÑALES 36.17 GRAM METEORITE
Individual Stone with about 60% fusion crust
Surface has patches of Red Cuban soil
As always, more pictures and video available upon request!
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Meteoritical Bulletin Information:
Name: Viñales
Classification: Ordinary Chondrite (L6)
Witnessed Fall Date: 02/01/2019
Location: Pinar del Rio, Cuba
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ADDITIONAL CLASSIFICATION DETAILS INCLUDED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS LISTING
We are Topher and Sue Spinnato, owners of Topherspin Meteorites
Topher is an internationally trusted meteorite educator, importer, collector, and dealer. He is also a proud member of the following associations:
International Meteorite Collector's Association (IMCA #6236)
The Meteorite Education & Trade Society (METS #6236)
The Meteorite Club Pioneer Member
Topher is also known for his very popular YouTube channel and Knowledge Bolide Weekly Online Hangout Series. He is also known for his active involvement in the annual Tucson Rock & Gem Show, where he is often streaming live events and hosts the Meteorite Mansion. Since Sue joined the team, Topher has shifted his focus to mostly sourcing inventory, providing free education and creating content for the Topherspin Meteorites YouTube channel.
Sue is a collector of meteorites and is also a member of the International Meteorite Collector's Association. (IMCA #7294) She has always been a co-owner of Topherspin Meteorites, but became a full-time partner in early 2021. Sue runs most of the daily operations for Topherspin Meteorites as well as serving as a project manager for the next business, which we will be launching in late 2023. She is also contributing a quarterly segment called the Metbull Monthly Update and has just started collaborating with Topher on a new segment - Conversations with Collectors.
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Classifiers:
Dr. C. Efrén Jaimez Salgado:
Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry
Russian Academy of Sciences
C. A. Lorenz:
Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry
A. Rubin:
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
University of California
L. Garvie:
Center for Meteorite Studies
Arizona State University
Description:
A bright bolide accompanied by loud sonic booms flew across the province of Pinar Del Rio, Cuba, at 1:17pm on February 1, 2019. A long smoke trail was also observed. The residents thought a plane had crashed, as they heard explosions and then ground rumbling lasting 15 to 20 seconds. A meteorite shower fell on Viñales Valley, a national monument since 1978 and a UNESCO world heritage site. The area is covered by a forest and fields. The first and some of the largest stones were collected near the monument "Mural of Prehistory" by artist Leovigildo Gonzalez Morillo. Others were discovered in and around Viñales and throughout the Viñales Valley. Some of the meteorite individuals penetrated the ground, one of them broke through an asphalt road, and many were recovered from rooftops.
Hundreds of individual samples were collected by the local residents. The stones are covered by black fusion crust with reddish smears of a laterite clay. The substance of the meteorite of light gray color can be seen in small areas of the broken crust. The masses of stones are in a range 2 to 1100 g. In total, about 50-100 kg of the meteorite were collected.
The interior is light-colored; silicates are transected by dark, pseudotachylite-like shock veins. The rock is highly recrystallized; chondrule margins are difficult to discern. The rock exhibits moderate silicate darkening. Chromite grains are moderately to extensively fractured. Some troilite grains and some kamacite grains are polycrystalline. A few kamacite grains contain small rounded grains of troilite within them. There are several small chromite-plagioclase assemblages and some olivine grains contain small chromite veinlets. The shock veins range to more than 1 cm in length and contain major silicate and small blebs of metallic Fe-Ni, and to a lesser extent, troilite. Elongated aggregates of chromite occur alongside portions of some shock veins. Slabs of Viñales show intersecting dark shock veins, anastomosing veins, and a few quasi-circular melt concentrations where veins intersect. Coarse metal grains are heterogeneously distributed in some samples – some regions of these samples have abundant coarse metal; other regions have none. Near the dark fusion crust, numerous thin veinlets of troilite surround and penetrate fractures within silicate grains. Additional scientific information can be obtained from the Meteorological Bulletin.
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