Battle Mountain

Battle Mountain – This is an OFFICIAL meteorite name

Battle Mountain

Basic informationName: Battle Mountain
This is an OFFICIAL meteorite name.
Abbreviation: There is no official abbreviation for this meteorite.
Observed fall: Yes
Year fell: 2012
Country: United States
Mass: 2.9 kg

Classification
history:

Meteoritical Bulletin: MB 101 (2013) L6

Recommended: L6

This is 1 of 9723 approved meteorites (plus 3 unapproved names) classified as L6. [show all]
Search for other: L chondrites (type 4-7), Ordinary chondrites (type 4-7), L chondrites, and Ordinary chondrites

Comments:Approved 2 Oct 2012

WriteupWriteup from MB 101:

Battle Mountain 40.66813°N, 117.18913°W

Humboldt County, Nevada, USA

Fell: 2012 Aug 22 06:17 (UTC)

Classification: Ordinary chondrite (L6)

History: The fall was observed in weather radar imagery from the US NEXRAD radar network, operated by the US National Weather Service. The discovery and analysis was done by Dr. Marc Fries, Galactic Analytics LLC. The KLRX radar in Elko, Nevada, is approximately 33 km from the fall site and recorded the fall in eight radar sweeps between 0619.26 UTC and 0621.03 UTC. This time span of 97 s is short compared to other meteorite falls observed by radar. This could be a result of meteorite production by a single, large breakup event, by relatively little fragmentation, or a combination of the two factors. The first stone was found on September 1, 2012, 10:50 AM (PDT) by Robert Verish; it weighs 19.25 g. As of 3 Oct 2012, at least 23 stones with a total mass of ~2.9 kg have been reported.

Physical characteristics: Most stones have a similar appearance, with a blocky shape where corners are not well-rounded; where orientation is exhibited, it is poorly developed. Regmaglypts are smaller than thumb-sized. Fusion-crust is uniformly distributed but thin, and on some sides of several stones displays a brownish patina on an otherwise uniformly black surface.

Petrography: (Alan Rubin, UCLA): The stone is recrystallized with 50-μm-size plagioclase grains. Olivine grains exhibit weak mosaicism; many chromite grains are extensively fractured. Troilite grains commonly polycrystalline. There has been localized melting of metal and sulfide. Several grains of metallic Cu occur inside metal at the boundaries of small (apparently melted) irregularly shaped troilite grains.

Geochemistry: Ca-pyroxene Fs7.8Wo43.7 (n=2); low-Ca pyroxene Fs19.8±0.2Wo1.3±0.3% (n=22)

Classification: Ordinary Chondrite (L6), grains are extensively fractured – moderately shocked (S4), unweathered (W0).

Specimens: An endcut of the 19.25 g stone found Sept. 1 was thin-sectioned and classified by UCLA. A slice from this stone of 3.85 g (20%) is held by UCLA. Another stone (56.5 g) was found in 3 pieces and is held by the finder, Martin Cunningham, Battle Mountain, Nevada. The finder donated one of the 3 pieces to UCLA which makes a total of 46 g type specimen. The second find from this fall (954 g) is held by Robert Ward, who purchased it from the finder. This stone is the largest mass recovered to date.

Data from:
MB101
Table 0
Line 0:

State/Prov/County:Nevada

Origin or pseudonym:mountainous

Date:2012 Aug 22 06:17 (UTC)

Latitude:40.66813°N

Longitude:117.18913°W

Mass (g):2900

Pieces:23

Class:L6

Shock stage:S4

Weathering grade:W0

Fayalite (mol%):23.2±0.3 (n=26)

Ferrosilite (mol%):19.8±0.2 (n=22)

Wollastonite (mol%):1.3±0.3 (n=22)

Classifier:A. Rubin, UCLA

Type spec mass (g):46

Type spec location:UCLA

Main mass:R. Ward

Finder:Bob Verish

Comments:Submitted by R.Verish

Institutions and collectionsUCLA: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567, United States (institutional address; updated 17 Oct 2011)
Verish: Robert Verish, Meteorite-Recovery Lab, P.O. Box 463084, Escondido, CA 92046, United States; Website (private address; updated 27 May 2009)
Ward: No contact information provided. (private address)

Catalogs:

References:Published in Meteoritical Bulletin, no. 101, MAPS 50, 1661, September 2015

Find references in NASA ADS:

Find references in Google Scholar:

Battle Mountain fell Aug. 22, 2012. Bob Verish and Moni found the first stone on Sept 1, 2012. Word spread fast and I got on a plane as quick as I could. I made 2 trips to Battle Mountain and found 2 meteorites on each trip. The first outing I teamed up with Scott Johnson and I was fortunate to find one on my first day! BaM 006. I found it on my anniversary, Sept 8. I found another a few days later, 38 grams. After 10 days I went home to re group and rest. On my second trip I teamed up with Keith Jenkerson for another 10 days and I found 2 more stones.

My first Battle Mountain find.

Scott was happy too!

My second find 38 grams.

Taking another selfie! One thing about meteorite hunting, there is lots of time alone.

A small chip from the 38 g

My 3rd find

236 grams, the last one I found, now part of the ASU collection and on display.

236 g Waves of crust! Photo Larry Atkins

Danger of Falling Rocks? Meteorites or Earth rocks? — Photo Scott Johnson

High up on Battle Mountain. Robert Ward on the left, Keith Jenkerson on the right.

This place is big. To put things into some perspective, the yellow trees in the bottom are about 70+ feet tall!

Marty Cunningham, a local guy, finds a meteorite!

There were tiny trout in this stream. The interesting thing is that most of the stream was not above ground at this time of year. When startled, the trout would swim underground!

Christopher Cottingham found an 1800 gram stone 300 yards from where Scott and I camped for several days! Once again, if your name isn’t on it, you’re not going to find it. Christopher and his dad Michael were kind enough to take Keith and I to the find location and let us drag our magnets through the impact pit. We collected a few grams of fragments each.