Red Canyon Lake        38°8.245’N, 119°45.487’W

Tuolumne Co., California, USA

Fell: 11 Aug 2007

Classification: Ordinary chondrite (H5)

History: Just after midnight on August 11, 2007, a bright fireball traveling in a S57°E direction was witnessed throughout northern and central California. Representatives with the Sonora Police Department and both the Tuolumne and Calaveras County Sheriff’s Departments fielded numerous calls early on the morning of the 11th in regards to a loud boom, and structures shaking. Campers around Markleeville, Soulsbyville, and Beardsley Lake reported sonic booms and ground shaking. A video from the fireball from Yuba City placed the breakup at 5 ' +7 " past midnight. A single stone was picked up by a hiker, Ben Deutsch near Red Canyon Lake, Tuolumne County, California, shortly after the fireball event.

Physical characteristics: One black fusion-crusted stone was recovered. The interior of the stone is exceptionally fresh with no signs of oxidation of the metal. Matrix is light gray with an abundance of metal and sulfide and a smattering of well-defined, gray, <1 mm chondrules. Only one stone of 18.41 g was recovered.

Petrography: (Laurence Garvie, ASU) The stone has an overall recrystallized texture, with a few well-defined chondrules. Feldspar is not well developed. One metal-rich vein traverses the stone. Areal percentages determined from one thin section show 5.5% metal, 2.0% troilite, and 0.01% chromite. Contains a rare unidentified Fe-Cr sulfide.

Geochemistry: (Laurence Garvie, ASU) Olivine - Fa_19.40 (range 19.23 to 19.58, n=9); Pyroxene - Fs_16.74 (range 16.54 to 16.89) and Wo_1.11 (range 0.76 to 1.30).

Classification: Ordinary chondrite (H5), shock stage S1

Specimens: ASU holds 4.24 g distributed between a complete slice, two thin sections and an end piece in a potted butt.