8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL, 1 48 



PHENOMENA OF HEXAHEDRITE FALLS 

 WITNESSED FALLS OF HEXAHEDRITES 



The first observed fall of a hexahedrite took place near Braunau, 

 Czechoslovakia, in 1847, Since then, falls of five other hexahedrites 

 have been witnessed. Six of the seven meteorites in table 2 fell 

 north of the Equator in the Eastern Hemisphere, while one (Tandil) 

 fell in the Western Hemisphere south of the Equator (table 2) , 



Since the two pieces of the Braunau iron, 22 and 17 kg., fell in 

 1847, two other hexahedrites have been recovered within 100 miles 

 of Braunau (see fig. 7), Perhaps, therefore, the 1847 fall was a 

 shower of hexahedrites. 



Table 2. — Witnessed falls of hexahedrites arranged chronologically. 

 (The Nedagolla iron, which is not a true 

 hexahedrite, is included for comparison.) 



Name Country Date of fall and hour Coordinates 



Braunau Czechoslo- July 14, 1847—3 :45 a.m. 56.6° N. 16.3° E. 



vakia 



Nedagolla 1 ...India Jan. 23, 1870— 7:00 p.m. 18°41' N. 83°20' E. 



Okano Japan Apr. 7, 1904— 6:35 a.m. 35°4' N. 135°13'E. 



Avce Italy Mar. 31, 1908—8 :45 a.m. 46° N. 13.5° E. 



Boguslavka ...Siberia Oct. 18, 1916— 11 :47 a.m. 44°33' N. 131°38'E. 



Tandil Argentina Between 1916-1919— ? 37°17' S. 59°6' E. 



Sikhote-Alin ..Siberia Feb. 12, 1947— 10:38 a.m. 46°9.6' N. 134°39.2' E. 



1 See footnote 5 to table 1. 



Another interesting fact about these witnessed falls is that five 

 occurred in the morning, with the Boguslavka iron falling only 13 

 minutes before noon. The Nedagolla, which has structural features 

 and a chemical composition unlike a hexahedrite, fell in the after- 

 noon. The time of fall of the Tandil iron was not recorded. The 

 fact that these irons, with the possible exception of the Tandil 

 meteorite, fell in the morning may not be a coincidence, 



CLUSTERING OF HEXAHEDRITES 



The clustered occurrence of hexahedrites was once assumed to be 

 due to transportation by man. Fletcher (1890) concluded that 

 because iron meteorites were useful as anvils and for other purposes, 

 man gathered them for use and later discarded them in places 

 distant from where they fell. This point of view is no longer popu- 

 lar either with those who study meteorites or with archeologists. 



In the late 19th century local concentrations of hexahedrites 



