Meteorite discovery: unusual finds by South African farmer add to space rock heritage
Meteorites are therefore rightly classified by many countries as an integral part of communal natural heritage and are sought after by museums and private collectors.
- Meteorites are therefore rightly classified by many countries as an integral part of communal natural heritage and are sought after by museums and private collectors.
- Gideon Lombaard, a farmer in the Northern Cape province, reached out to us because he suspected that he had found two meteorite fragments.
- Mr Lombaard’s double discovery raises South Africa’s tally of confirmed meteorites to 51 – the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
- But, compared with the over 14,000 meteorites recovered from the Sahara desert, the number of recovered southern African meteorites is extremely small.
What is a meteorite?
- Meteorites are usually discovered by someone who notices an unusual rock while out walking (called a “find”).
- However, around 2% of meteorites are classified as “falls” because they are retrieved after witnessed meteor fireball events.
Discovery and forensics
- It is thus not surprising that nearly 80% of all meteorites have been found where arid climates aid their preservation, namely Antarctica and the Sahara desert.
- Meteorites typically become coated in a dark fusion crust during their fiery passage through the atmosphere.
- That makes the white Antarctic ice and the pale-coloured Sahara bedrock and sand perfect backdrops for searchers.
- We then used the greater oxidation (rust) of the Wolfkop stone to suggest that its fall predated that of the Brierskop meteorite.
South Africa’s meteorite heritage
- The South African Heritage Act No.
- 25 of 1999 classifies South African meteorites as national heritage items that cannot be damaged, removed, exported or traded without a permit issued by the South African Heritage Agency.
- Prior to the two recent discoveries, the Meteoritical Bulletin Database listed 49 meteorites as having been satisfactorily proved to be from South African sites.