Meteorite falls over India during 2003: Petrographic and chemical characterization and cosmogenic records

Abstract

Two meteorite falls observed over India in 2003 led to the recovery of surviving fragments. The Kasauli meteorite that fell in northern India is a single fall, while Kendrapara meteorite is a multiple fall that covered a large coastal region of Orissa. Data for petrographic characteristics and chemical composition suggest that the two meteorites belong to the H group of chondrites, with Kasuali suffering a lesser degree of thermal metamorphism than Kendrapara during their residence in their parent bodies. Cosmogenic records indicate a large size (≥1 m) for the Kendrapara meteoroid that has spent ~5 million years in interplanetary space following its ejection from its parent body until its fall on the Earth. On the other hand, the Kasauli meteoroid spent an unusually long time (~37 Ma) in interplanetary space before its fall and lost ~80% of its original mass during atmospheric ablation.