Izarzar        30°08.33’N, 07°57.75’W

South, Morocco

Probable fall: 2012 Oct 23

Classification: Ordinary chondrite (H5)

History: (H. Chennaoui, FSAC). On 23 October 2012 at 00:30 GMT, people from the cities of Tata, Ighrem, Taghmout, and Faddouks in southern Morocco witnessed a large fireball illuminating the night sky. They saw the meteor fragmentation. Inhabitants from Izarzar and Beni Yacoub village reported to have been awaken by a thunder-like blast followed by a tremor. The fall was also reported by newspapers. A number of local hunters proceeded to the fall area and the first piece was discovered on October 30, broken apart after landing on rocks on Azaghzaf mountain, about 6 km SW of Izarzar. The first discovery was made by Mohamed Azeroual. Very few pieces have been reported. This fall is also known as "Beni Yacoub". The concordance between the testimonies on the place of the fall and the real find of pieces in this area are consistant with the fact that this meteorite corresponds to the eyewitnessed fall. When the rock was found, powder of the meteorite was still adhering to the rock with which it collided.

Physical characteristics: Stones covered with a dull-gray fusion crust, except where they hit the ground.

Petrography: (A. Jambon, O. Boudouma, D. Badia UPVI; H. Chennaoui-Aoudjehane FSAC). Equilibrated texture, chondrules 0.1 to 1 mm. Large olivine phenocrysts, low-Ca microcrysts surrounded by a thin rim of diopside. Interstitial sodic plagioclase. Abundant mm-sized metal patches (mostly kamacite with subsidiary taenite). Minor merrillite, chromite, and troilite.

Geochemistry: Olivine: Fa_18±0.3 (N=22); Low calcium pyroxene Fs_16±0.4Wo_0.9±0.2 (N=8).

Classification: Ordinary chondrite (H5).

Specimens: 18.9 g and one thin section at FSAC.