Gao–Guenie meteorite

In the meteorites from Gao - Guenie is a stone meteorite that fell about 60 km north of the city Léo ( Burkina Faso) on 5 March 1960.

The meteorite burst upon entry into the Earth's atmosphere due to the frictional heat and the shock-like deceleration in numerous fragments. The structure of the meteorite indicates that he burst into three phases. The fragments of the first fragmentation were moving at high speed further, were heated again and burst again. This process was repeated with the fragments thereby incurred again.

The meteorite comes from the asteroid belt and belongs to the class of iron-rich H5- chondrites to. Addition to nickel - iron It contains the minerals olivine and bronzite. H5- chondrites were exposed to temperatures above 950 ° C during their formation. Here, the structure of the minerals is modified, you to crystallized and formed larger crystals.

Chemical Composition: 20 % nickel iron; 78 % silicates; 1.5% water; 0.2 % carbon.