Tiglit        28.4035278°N, 10.3734444°W

South, Morocco

Confirmed fall: 2021 Dec 9

Classification: Enstatite achondrite (Aubrite)

History: (H. Chennaoui Aoudjehane, FSAC, ATTARIK Foundation, A. Aaronson) On December 9, 2021, around 8:30 pm, many people from southern Morocco reported an important fireball east of Guelmim and northeast of Laayoune moving in a northwest to southeast direction. Two field missions to the fall area were conducted a few days after the fall by A. Aaronson, M. Fouadassi, M. Aoudjehane, L. Zennouri, H. Chennaoui (FSAC and ATTARIK foundation). Pieces of the fall were found close to Tiglit village and Oued Tiglit. Several eyewitnesses were interviewed. Among eyewitnesses was Mr. Ali Boutmoula, a nomad living in a tent exactly in the center of the fall area. At the time of fall he was outside his tent by the river, while his uncle was inside the tent. He saw a greenish light moving from northwest toward southeast (coming from Ouinet Ait Oussa located northwest from his position). He walked for a few " then he heard a large explosion over his head in the valley and the mountains, followed by two or three more explosions after the first one. The last explosion was a high-pitched sound like a bang in a tin bucket. He thought it was thunder. Stones were recovered all around his tent. A second eyewitness Mr. Hmadi Elkebchi was sitting with his family in Oum Laouitgat village. He heard Loud explosion coming from the west followed by three sonic booms, the last one was high pitched like hitting a metal object. He thought it was an earthquake. Mr. Lbaz Brahim is a third eyewitness living in Oum Laouitgat village. While leaving a mosque, he saw a blue colored fireball followed by a green light. He heard a large explosion, then a second and a third one, he reported a metallic sound like hitting tin can. The trajectory he reported was coming from Aouinat Ait Oussa in the northeast heading southwest toward Tiglit. The next day, he went searching for pieces of the meteorite, and all the valley smelled of sulfur. He found one of the largest stones. Mr. Mouloud Rkhaoui and Mr. Mohamed Dghaich, nomad shepherds who were camping about ten km east of Tiglit, heard three sonic booms followed by a whistling. In the morning, they went to the supposed fall area and found some pieces. The day after the fireball report, hundreds of hunters and people from the area went searching for the fall. All hunters reported a strong odor of sulfur in the entire valley. The first pieces were found in the same day near the junction of Oued Tiglit and Guelta Moukiyoud which flow towards Oued Draa. The region is steep with significant relief. Some pieces were found on a small relief called Assafaou which is part of the starting point of Jbel Bani the most important mountain of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas chain. The main mass was found at at 28.404°N, 10.373°W, and the strewn field extends to about 30 km towards the WNW.

Physical characteristics: Six large pieces and many small fragments were recovered. The main mass is a 736 g complete stone, the other large pieces include: 507 g (broken), 310 g (complete), 209 g (complete), 130 g (broken), and 40 g (broken). Exterior is covered with multi-colored (green-orange-brown) fusion crust. Broken surfaces reveal a mild breccia of mm- to cm-sized fractured bright white pyroxene grains, elongate to stubby, permeated and bounded by shock-darken domains. Large pyroxenes include black material as needles or grain inclusions. Samples are fragile and easily broken. Magnetic susceptibility, measured on different stones, ranges from log χ (× 10^-9 m³/kg) = 2.7 to log χ (× 10^-9 m³/kg) = 3.6 (H. Chennaoui Aoudjehane, FSAC).

Petrography: (A. Ross and C. Agee, UNM) Backscatter electron image maps show that enstatite makes up ~90-95% of this meteorite. Scattered diopside and olivine grains were observed, and only a single albite grain was detected in the microprobe mount. A few aluminous silica polymorph grains were also found. Ubiquitous shock melt pockets and veinlets are present throughout, most of which are silica-rich or albitic, although some are diopsidic in composition, and some have minor amounts of sulfur. Detected sulfides include: troilite, Ti-troilite, Cr-troilite, Mn-troilite, ferroan alabandite, ferromagnesian alabandite, daubreelite, and oldhamite. Metals include kamacite and taenite; Si was below detection limits in both metals. Rare schreibersite was observed. Vesicular enstatitic fusion crust was observed by BSE, apparent thickness is ~100-300 μm.

Geochemistry: (A. Ross, UNM) Enstatite Fs_0.08±0.06Wo_0.9±0.3, n=12; diopside Fs_0.02±0.01Wo_44.7±1.7, n=5; olivine Fa_0.04±0.04, n=5; albite Ab_95.5±0.6Or_3.5±0.2, n=2; troilite Fe=60.8±0.6, Ti=0.55±0.23, Cr=1.04±0.51, S=36.0±0.4 (wt%), n=20; Ti-troilite Ti=4.6±2.3 (wt%), n=3; Cr-troilite Cr=3.6 (wt%); Mn-troilite Mn=4.1 (wt%); ferroan alabandite Mn=43.2±4.2, Fe=16.2±2.8, Mg=1.3±1.1, S=36.8±0.6 (wt%), n=9; ferromagnesian alabandite Fe=14.3±2.6, Mg=8.7±0.6 (wt%), n=2; daubreélite Cr=34.0±1.0, Fe=17.0±0.7, Mn=1.8±0.6, S=43.2±0.4 (wt%) n=12; oldhamite Ca=51.6±2.3, Mn=0.9±0.3, S=42.6±0.2 (wt%), n=7; kamacite Fe=96.3±1.6, Ni=4,7±1.4, Co=0.3±0.2 (wt%), n=10; taenite Fe=50.0±11.0, Ni=47.5±10 (wt%) n=4; fusion crust SiO₂=58.0±0.1, Al₂O₃=0.7±0.1, MgO=37.0±0.4, FeO=1.7±0.2, MnO=0.21±0.01, CaO=1.0±0.2, Na₂O=0.26±0.04 (wt%), n=4.a

Classification: Aubrite, fragmental monomict breccia (after Keil, 1989). 

Specimens: 20 g plus a probe mount on deposit at UNM, 16.5 g and a polished mount at UWB. Moroccan Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development holds 20 g, Adam Aaronson holds the main mass of 736 g as well as pieces of 507 g, 209 g, 130 g, 40 g, and other smaller fragments totaling 1702 g; 170 g with WangZ.