The fall of the Soko-Banja, Serbia (Yugoslavia) chondrite
At approximately two in the afternoon on October 13, 1877, a thunderous noise described by witnesses as “Batteries of cannon firing briskly” was heard, followed by a “violent concussion of air.” Then rocks were strewn around the region.
Other witnesses further away described the event as “two explosions like salvoes of artillery accompanied by a brilliant display of light.” The light was described as like that which “attends the bursting of shells.”
Furthermore, a dense black smoke was observed quite high in the sky, and it “broke into three columns, and gradually changed to a white smoke.”
Another description of the fall described the noise as lasting “for some time, and then the sound resembled the firing of musketry. The air appeared to be shaken.”
Following the explosive sound, stones fell to earth in an area described as “a mile and a half in length and a half a mile in breadth.” In other words, a classic ellipsoid strewn field.
One stone, weighing 10 okas (~22.5 Austrian pounds), landed in front of a house burying itself “deep in the earth.” Another stone, this one weighing 30 okas landed at Scherbanowaz, near Rtanj Berg. Its mass of almost 70 Austrian pounds became the main mass of the fall now known as Soko-Banja.
Peasants in the area who experienced the fall described one stone the size of a sack of flour that struck a rocky surface and “was dashed to fragments.”
Additional descriptions of particular stones included one of 23 okas that fell in the village of Scherbanowaz, and “penetrated the soil to a depth of four feet.”
Another stone of 15 okas fell “near the vineyard at Soko-Banja, and reached a depth of three feet.”
One piece of note is a fragment described as 2 okas in weight and “fell on a pear tree, and then descended to the ground. A man under the tree took it in his hand, and received the impression that the mass was still warm.”
It was deduced that the explosion of the bolide occurred at 7000 meters above the earth due to the 25 second lag between light and sound.
The interior of the meteorite was described as consisting of “spherules of various sizes, some brown, some yellow, cemented together by and ash-grey material, and presents the appearance of a trachytic lava.”
As a historical witnessed fall, Soko-Banja is a classic case doing more to confirm the understanding about meteorites at the time rather than adding new information. However, 137 years later, Soko-Banja is an important place holder in many institutions due to is relatively rare class of LL4, and by the collection of diverse but converging perspectives about its fall.
Until next time…
