Great report and recovery Andre, Graham
On Sat, Oct 5, 2013 at 3:15 AM, André Moutinho <mouti...@bol.com.br> wrote: > Hello all! > > I have arrived today from another field trip to recover the most recent > Brazilian fall. I have solved to write this small report to let everybody > know about this fall: > > This very interesting fall event occurred on a small district of Vicencia > named Borracha. Vicência is a small city located about 120 km from Recife > city, the capital of Pernambuco state in Brazil northwest. According to > residents, Borracha interestingly received its name because it grew very fast > stretching like rubber, that means Borracha in Portuguese. > > Mr. Adeilson was working in front of his modest joinery in Borracha village > on a sunny Monday day of September, 21st. At a certain moment at around 3:00 > PM he stooped to pick up something on the the ground and suddenly heard a > very loud noise of something that had just hit the ground nearby him. He did > not know what had happened but soon noticed a very strange black rock on a > small pit only about 1 meter from him (he told us he measured the distance > from where he was and the meteorite pit with a measuring tape and this can > be seen on some youtube videos). Mr. Adeilson caught the almost hammer stone > that could have killed him and noticed that one side of the rock was still > hot and the other cold. > > Many neighbors were in front of their houses and witnessed the impact event > noticing only the loud noise of the meteorite impact on the ground. As usual, > nothing at impact zone was heard or seen in the air except the ground hit > impact. One or two of them were just on the exact impact location very few > minutes ago. > > I had just arrived home from another hard work day on Friday 27th and read > some Internet hot news concerning a possible new meteorite fall in Brazil. > According to these news only a meteorite could have caused such event. I > immediately called Dr. Elizabete Zucolotto, meteorite researcher and curator > of the Brazilian NM. She also read the news and there was no doubt that it > could be a meteorite fall. We had to go to that location immediately. We > bought the flight tickets to Recife at that same night and traveled the > following day. > > Arriving at Recife we rented a car and headed to Vicência and then to > Borracha village. On the way from Vicência city to the village we started to > notice the mountains were covered with sugar cane and banana plantations and > started to notice that finding more pieces of this fall could possibly be > harder than Varre-sai. At least in Varre-sai there were some pastures to > search. The entrance for the village is near an alcohol plant. Finding the > village was also hard as there was no signs on the way and we had to ask to > many people we found on the way. A lot of them were drunk and we thought that > the sugar cane plantion were only for local usage.. > > The village is basically one road with houses on both sides and a small > church. Interestingly the first person we have found on that village was Mr. > Adeilson in front of his joinery that I have recognized by the videos and > pictures. As hapenned in Varre-Sai with Mr. Germano, Mr Adeilson was already > a famous person on that small village and had already given some interviews > to TV channels and local radios. Fortunatelly the rock was still with him > besides the fact that he had received many offers to sell but refused. The > first lower offer he received was from a local resident that offered a new > motorcycle. > > At fall location we made video interviews with Mr. Adeilson and some > neighbors that witnessed the fall event. It was hard even for us that are > Portuguese native to sometime understand what Mr. Adeilson said because of > his strong accent. We then asked him if we could see the rock. He agreed and > lead us to his modest house nearby the joinery. Holding the stone there was > no doubt it was a beautiful super fresh meteorite that had fallen less than a > week ago and was recovered still hot from the ground! We took pictures and > talked to a lot of people that were in front of Mr. Adeilson's house > attracted by the outer space visitor notice that spread like fire. There was > no condition to try buying the stone at that moment and we decided to leave > Mr. Adeilson's house and headed again to the fall area to try search on > nearby mountains covered with plantations. Also we have used the best > effective meteorite recovery method: teaching locals to find meteorites and > offering them a reward. > > Another thing that must be done was trying to figure out the meteorite bolide > direction and possible strewn field area. To accomplish this we tried to > interview other residents further from the impact zone and to discover if > someone had seen the bolide or heard the explosion in the air. Nobody saw any > sign of the bolide or smoke in the air but we got some clues that some noise > could have been heard on a nearby city. It was late that first day and we had > to find some hotel to sleep. Surely there was no hotel on that very small > village and we headed in the eventide to that nearby city that someone told > people could have heard something. > > I was driving on the way to that city and our car was suddenly hit by > something on the Zucolotto side window making a loud noise. Zucolotto > screamed: we have been hit! Immediately she notice some rock pieces on her > lap and car floor. How could this have happened? I then noticed my side > window was opened and we realized that someone, possibly from a motorcycle > with a turned off light, tried to catapult a rock from my side window that > was opened. Certainly to assault us! Fortunately the rock missed my face and > smashed against Zucolotto side window. We ran like crazy to the nearby city > and stayed there that night. Nobody heard any sound there.. > > On the following day, recovered from the scarying experience of the previous > night, we returned to Vicência and talked to the mayor of that city. We gave > him an explanation concerning the meteorite and Zucolotto said she would > provide the city a replica of the meteorite that had fallen in Borracha and > also would return next month to help organizing a meteorite exposition on > that city if we could afford to buy the meteorite from the owner. After > talking to the mayor it was then time to return to Mr. Adeilson house to try > buying the meteorite. Fortunately he was at home and after putting piles of > money that maybe we would have to work years to gain and the promise the city > would receive a meteorite replica he decided to sell me the meteorite. Mr. > Adeilson's wife was very sick with depression and we really believe this gift > from heaven will be of great value for them. > > I lent the meteorite to Dr. Zucolotto, that returned to RJ that same day and > I stayed on the field trying to find more pieces and working with locals. I > just have called her. She has already made a thin section and also sent > samples for microcrobe analysis. Next week she will submit it to MetSoc. > > I will trade a good portion of this meteorite with NM, will keep some in may > collection and will sell some slices. So if you are interested to have this > amazing almost hammer meteorite on your collection please contact me off list > (mouti...@gmail.com) and I will let you know when it will be available and > classification. > > Pictures and videos can be found here: > http://www.meteorito.com.br/meteoritos.php?action=view&pg=183&ct=&idT=2 > > Regards, > > Andre Moutinho > IMCA 2731 > http://www.meteorito.com.br > ______________________________________________ > > Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
