RUSSIA-URALS-METEORITE-PIECES
Yekaterinburg, February 18 (Interfax) – Most of the meteorite that fell over the Chelyabinsk region on Friday morning and fragments of which Urals Federal University scientists have found is sunken in the Lake Chebarkul, expedition leader, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Meteorite Committee Viktor Grokhovsky told Interfax on Monday.
“The fragments discovered come from the meteorite fusion crust, which means most of the meteorite mass is sunken in the lake,” he said.
The expert estimated the size of the sunken meteorite at 50-60 centimeters.
“We have found tiny pieces, about 50-53 in all, and each is measured in millimeters. That was all we could find in the snow around the crater,” he said.
New expeditions of Urals scientists to the meteorite drop zone are in question: scientists lack funds and there has been no official order for their work.
“It was our personal initiative. Being a committee member, I could not have stayed aside so I sent the guys there,” Grokhovsky said.
The search zone will be very wide, he said. Grokhovsky predicted that meteorite fragments might be found not only in the Lake Chebarkul.
University specialists are preparing for detailed analysis of the fragments. They have identified the meteorite as a regular chondrite, a stone meteorite containing about 10% of iron.
