Buritizal        20°10’57.28"S, 47°43’0.10"W

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Confirmed fall: 1967 Aug 14

Classification: Ordinary chondrite (LL3.2)

History: On August 14, 1967, at 03:40 AM (local time), many residents of São Simão and Buritizal witnessed a big explosion in the sky and a light so bright that it turned the sky as bright as day. Hearing about it, reporter Saulo Gomes, working at TV Tupi, went to Buritizal to investigate the fall and write a newspaper report. He confirmed the reports and found three fragments of the meteorite in the stable of a small farm in Buritizal owned by Mr. Almir Canc. The event was well documented at the time. Years later, in 2014, Saulo Gomes donated one of the meteorite fragments to MNRJ.

Physical characteristics: Three meteorite fragments with total mass 210 g. The fragment studied is ~4 × 3 × 2 cm and largely covered by dull to shiny, ~2 mm thick, black fusion crust. Interior shows a pronounced chondritic texture, with abundant well-defined chondrules having 0.8 mm average diameter. Chondrules and fragments are embedded in a gray to black, fine-grained matrix. Bulk density 3.3 g/cm³.

Petrography: Weakly shocked (S3), well-developed chondritic texture with mineralogy and mineral compositions consistent with an unequilibrated ordinary chondrite. All principal types of chondrules are present, including porphyritic olivine, porphyritic pyroxene, radial pyroxene and well-developed barred olivine. Many metal grains are composed of kamacite with inclusions of tetrataenite. Several chondrules are Al-rich; one of them shows a dust-rich rim with glass and Al-rich minerals. The major minerals are forsterite, enstatite and clinoenstatite. The meteorite is a genomict breccia.

Geochemistry: (R.N. Salaverry and M.E. Zucolotto, with collaborators K. Keil, J.C. Mendes, A. Zanardo, J. Gattacceca, A. Tosi and F. Vasques) Microprobe analysis shows ferromagnesian minerals with unequilibrated composition. Olivine (Fa_29.8±13.6; n=48) and low-Ca pyroxene (Fs_25.3±16.7Wo_1.5±1.1, n=16). Metallic Fe,Ni is composed of kamacite (93 wt% Fe) tetrataenite (47 wt% Fe), taenite (62 wt% Fe) and troillite (61 wt% Fe; 35 wt% S). The rims of dust-laden shells have an average: Al₂O₃=21.1, MgO=6.7, SiO₂=63.7, FeO=4.1, CaO=3.3, Cr₂O₃=4.4, all in wt%. The genomict breccia has in average: Al₂O₃=6.5, MgO=14.6, Na₂O=0.07, CaO=4.6, SiO₂=54.8, FeO=16.4, Cr₂O₃=0.6, all in wt%.

Classification: LL group classification based on: bulk density (3.3 g/cm³), chondrule mean apparent diameter (0.8 mm), content of metallic Fe,Ni (2 vol%), Co content of kamacite (1.3 wt%), 20.88 total iron (wt%), a low magnetic susceptibility (log χ (× 10^-9 m³/kg) = 4.47)  with a low weathering meteorite (W1) and Fs_25.3, Fa_29.8 = LL . Petrologic type 3.2 classification based on the texture and highly unequilibrated minerals: mean Cr₂O₃ content of ferroan olivine is ~0.22±0.19 wt%; PMD of Fa content of olivine = 45, PMD of Fs content of pyroxene = 65; absence of albite in mesostasis chondrules type I and II; matrix <20% recrecrystallized; Ni content of troilite (0.09 wt%); Ni heterogeneity of kamacite (16.2%); and, cathodoluminesnce (CL) analysis shows rare yellow CL, common blue CL, present red CL and a low matrix CL.

Specimens: The 122 g specimen is held intact by the reporter Saulo Gomes; 47 g, UNESP University; 40 g, MNRJ.