DISCOVERY OF SECOND SPECIMEN OF MANYCH STONY METEORITE

The Manych stony meteorite (chondrite) weighing 1860 gr fell on October 20, 1951, at 15 h 30 m in the northern part of Arzgir District, Stavropol Territory (CN=0446, 458) and was at the time described in literature (V. G. Gnilovski: Papers on Stavropol Territory, Issue 4, 1952.  Prireda, No. 8, 1952.  L. G. Kvasha Meteoritica, Issue 31, 1954), and included in meteorite catalogues (E. L. Krinov, Principles of Meteoritics, 1955).

It has now become known that in the above district another specimen of the Manych meteorite weighing 1695 gr was found.  This specimen was discovered in 1952, but only in 1957 it was turned over to the Stavropol Local History Museum by K. N. Schvedova, a secondary school geography teacher.

The meteorite was found in a pasture approximately 8 km to the west of Iki-Burul settlement. It is shaped like a tetrahed­ral truncated pyramid and is covered by a fusion crust on all sides. The dimensions of the sides of the rhomboid base of the pyramid are 12.5 - 11 cm and 8 cm., sides (upper) of surf­ace section, 7 cm and 2 cm; height of pyramid - 9 cm.

Source : V.G. Gnilovskoi’s telegram and report of results of the work of the expedition sent out to search for fragments of the Manych meteorite, and received by the USSR Academy of Sciences Committee on Meteorites in January 1958.