Copyright - M.Bandli - Historic Meteorites

BOGOU
Upper Volta, Burkina Faso, Africa
Fell August 14, 1962 - IAB Iron

Collection No. B138.1 - A 10.9 gram fusion crusted part slice.

Provenance: The Cureton Collection; by transfer to Excalibur Mineral.

Historical Notes: After sounds of a "shrill rocket" were heard  an 8.8 kilo black iron meteorite fell near the border of Togo and Ghana, creating an impact pit 20 x 30 cm and 50 cm deep. President Yameogo offered portions of the iron to leading scientists in the US.

Though well distributed by weight, the observed fall and subsequent recovery of an iron meteorite are quite rare. If one looks at the historical record, they will see that, on average, only two witnessed irons are recovered per decade.  As of 2010, we remain in a witnessed-iron drought, with only a single 6.6 kilo iron (Kavarpura, India)  having been recovered in the past 18 years.

Below: real fusion crust on an iron - something commonly misrepresented these days. The layer is so thin and fragile that it can flake off from handling. One can see that this crust would last only a few weeks in our earthly weather.

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References:

Grady, M.M. (2001)  Catalogue of Meteorites , 5th edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.