Sericho Pallasite Meteorite Slice (Kenya)
Sericho Pallasite Meteorite Slice (Kenya)
Mineral: Meteorite var. Pallasite (Contains Olivine)
Origin: West of the village of Habaswein and south of Sericho, Kenya
Color: Metallic Silver with areas of Orangish Yellow
Treatment: Stabilized
Approximate Dimensions: 2.4cm x 0.5cm x 0.2cm
Weight: 1g
10% of this purchase will be donated to The International Anti-Poaching Foundation
The pallasites are a class of stony–iron meteorite. It consists of centimetre-sized olivine crystals of peridot quality in an iron-nickel matrix. Coarser metal areas develop Widmanstätten patterns upon etching. Minor constituents are schreibersite, troilite, chromite, pyroxenes, and phosphates (whitlockite, stanfieldite, farringtonite, and merrillite).
In 2016, two brothers were searching for their camels and came across several large, dense stones west of the village of Habaswein and south of Sericho, Kenya. There are no rocks in this area, so they decided they were meteorites. They spent several weeks collecting them with engine hoists and moving them to their homes in Habaswein. Though recognized as meteorites in 2016, the masses had been known to camel-herders for decades. One village elder said that as a child, he and his brothers would play on top of the stones. In early January 2017, Michael Farmer received an email showing a photo of “giant pallasite” weighing 107 kg. He traveled to Nairobi and purchased this stone. Two weeks later he returned to Kenya with Moritz Karl and traveled to Habaswein. Here they were shown more than one ton of specimens stacked in the courtyards of two house compounds. To date, more than 2800 kg has been found.
Color may vary in images and videos due to different lightings and angles
