A Pair of Oriented “Bakesale Juancheng” Meteorites

In celebration of the publication release of Michael Blood’s new book titled Aspects of Meteorite Orientation I thought I would share a couple oriented specimens I picked up in Tucson years ago. They were part of a set of Juancheng individuals that were collected by school children and later sold as a fundraiser for the school. I sold all of the pieces with documentation as what I called “Bakesale Juancheng” specimens since they were collected specifically to be resold in Tucson by a Chinese mineral dealer who would carry back the money to the school after the show.

According to the Meteoritical Bulletin…
Juancheng
Shandong Province, China
Fell 1997 February 15, 23:23:35 Beijing time (15:23:35 UT)
Ordinary chondrite (H5)
A shower of small stones (>1000 individuals) fell near the Yellow River after a brilliant fireball with smoke and sparks terminated in a loud, resonating explosion. The fall ellipse measured ~10.5 ´ 4.3 km, oriented east-west. The largest recovered piece weighed 2.7 kg, and the total mass is >100 kg. One fragment was reported to have penetrated a roof and landed in a pot on a stove. This meteorite has been widely traded and sold under the unofficial name Heze. Classification and mineralogy (Chen Yonghen and Wang Daode, GIG; Wang Ruitian, HBS; A. Rubin, UCLA;): olivine, Fa19.0–19.2; pyroxene, Fs16.9Wo0.1; plagioclase heterogeneous, An9–33Ab63–84Or3–12; kamacite contains 0.36–0.47 wt% Co; shock stage S2. Specimens: 35 kg, DPitt; ~1 kg, ZMAO; ~1 kg, BeiAP.

These two oriented specimens are little gems that forever hold the impressive features of hypersonically carved rock that only atmospheric reentry creates. From the tip of the leading face, to the vacuum-formed underbelly, these Juanching jewels are not only collectable meteorites, but also pleasant memories of meteorite adventures.

A classic pincushion shaped oriented stone meteorite. The little bit of cloth tape scars the surface with a weight, but since this “Bakesale” stone carries with it a human story, the tape remains as testament to the students who started this stones earthly journey in the same question most student bake cupcakes and cookies.

Like another planet — It’s hard to believe that this side of the specimen is even on the same planet let alone same stone as the traditional oriented shell of the leading edge. Smooth, bubbly abrupt, melted. It is if someone took a knife and sliced the meteorite in half. I suspect there was some upper atmospheric breakage given the harsh 90 degree edges, but there was still plenty of time in the meteorite’s fall to make only primary fusion crust during the fall.

This shield shape is another classic form borne out of a fiery arrival to earth. Displacing the intense forces of reentry gravity in the most economical way possible ablates a meteorite into a perfect shape for dissipating energy over the greatest surface area.

In addition to the smooth underbelly, a rollover rim is visible where molten rock flowed off the leading surface and wrapped itself under the meteorite being pushed into the low pressure region formed as the stone fell at hypersonic speed without tumbeling.

A side view of the rollover rim also shows some rippling as the waves of liquid stone lapped up against the shores of stones sourrounding the meteorite during the few brief moments before the icy stratosphere forever froze the stone solid preserving the motion as a trace fossil of cosmic physics.

…Until next time…next year ( ; – }

Martin Horejsi

Dr. Martin Horejsi is a Professor of Instructional Technology and Science Education at The University of Montana, Missoula. A long-time meteorite collector and writer, before publishing his column "The Accretion Desk" in The Meteorite Times, he contributed often and wrote the column "From The Strewnfields" in Meteorite Magazine. Horejsi is also the Lead Technology Reviewer for The National Science Teaching Association, and just celebrated his 22th year working with NASA and the JPL in education and public outreach (EPO), and is a NASA Solar System Ambassador. Horejsi specializes in the collection and study of historic witnessed fall meteorites with the older, smaller, and rarer the better. Although his meteorite collection once numbered over a thousand pieces with near that many different locations, several large trades and sales and trades have streamlined the collection to about 250 important locations with all but 10 being witnessed falls. Many of the significant specimens in Horejsi's collection are historic witnessed falls that once occupied prominence in the meteorite collections of Robert A. Haag, James Schwade, and Michael Farmer. Other important specimens were acquired through institutional trades including those from The Smithsonian Institution, Arizona State University, and other universities. Horejsi was awarded the Harvey (Nininger) Award in Tucson in 2006, The Brotherhood of Guardians of the Ensisheim Meteorite in 2011, a JPL Inspiration Person, on the JPL STARDUST Team that was awarded the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Annual Trophy in 2008, and former board member of the International Meteorite Collectors Association, and the Northwest Council for Computers in Education.

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A Pair of Oriented “Bakesale Juancheng” Meteorites

Martin Horejsi

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