Qiquanhu        43°08.33417’N, 89°20.93383’E

Xinjiang, China

Probable fall: 2021 Jan 15

Classification: HED achondrite (Eucrite)

History: At about 7:44 am (Beijing time) on Jan. 15, 2021, a fireball was witnessed by local people in Urumqi, Xinjiang province, China. The fireball traveled W to E and was recorded by a CCTV camera. A series of strong detonations were heard by local residents in the Mulei area. Several meteorite hunters immediately conducted a field search in the area where the fall was thought to have occurred, but they failed to find any specimens. In early May 2021, two workers noticed one black stone (190 g) under a solar power panel near a power plant in Tulufan. A picture of the stone was uploaded to the web, and it was identified as a highly possible fall. These two workers then went back and found another black stone (47 g) in the same area. Immediately after, numerous meteorite hunters searched the area intensively, and five more stones (167, 93, 14, 266, and 70 g) with shining fusion crust were found by Mei Hua, Wang Weiwei, Liu Yukun, Zhao Tailu, Zhao Yuxian, Chen Pengli and Wang Zijian.

Physical characteristics: 7 stones with fresh fusion crust

Petrography: The meteorite consists of 62% pyroxene, 35% plagioclase, 2% silica, and less than 1% minor minerals (ilmenite, chromite, and apatite). This rock is fractured, and grain size up to 1 mm.

Geochemistry: low-Ca pyroxene (Fs_55.9-62.6Wo_1.4-9.5, Fe/Mn=34-37, n=16), Ca-rich pyroxene(Fs_25.0-31.7Wo_36.2-45.4, Fe/Mn=33-38, n=8).