Albareto meteorite, Albareto, Modena, Modena Province, Emilia-Romagna, Italyi

Regional Level Types
Albareto meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Albareto	- not defined -
Modena	Commune
Modena Province	Province
Emilia-Romagna	Region
Italy	- not defined -

Ordinary chondrite, (L/LL4)
Fall, July 1766, afternoon, ca. 5 p.m.; 12(?) or 2(?) kg [see below].

Albareto was one of the earliest recorded observed meteorite falls in Europe and was made at a time when most European scientists did not believe that "stones could fall from the sky". Careful studies were made by the Jesuit Domenico Troili (1722-1792), who collected eyewitness reports and examined the stone. Troili thought that stone was the product of a subterranean explosion that hurled it skyward; the meteoritic origin of the Albareto stone was recognised by Chladni (1819). Troili described the stone as extremely heavy, magnetic, roughly triangular in shape, and covered with a hard crust that appeared to have been burned by fire. He estimated that the entire stone, before being broken up, would have weighed about 12 kg. Troili obtained pieces of the stone which he described as looking like sandstone with steely glints scatterd through it. Under a microscope he saw that many of the shiny particles were metallic iron but some were bronzy grains that he called "marchesita" (Troili, 1766). A century later, this mineral, which proved to be stoichiometric iron sulphide (FeS), was named "troilite" in his honour (Haidinger, 1863).

While troilite is now routinely found in virtually all iron meteorites and in the great majority of stony meteorites, Albareto itself is a rather unusual meteorite. Albareto is one of only 11 witnessed falls classified as an L/LL ordinary chondrite. The L/LL chondrites have properties that are somewhat inconsistently intermediate between those of the L chondrites and the LL chondrites.

There is disagreement about the weight of the original stone. It has been listed as 2 kg (Huchinson et al., 1977; Grady, 2000) and 12 kg (Troili, 1766; Prior, 1923; Prior & Hey, 1953; Baldanza, 1965; Hey, 1966; Baldanza & Triscari, 1978; Chinellato, 2001; Marvin, 2006). Huchinson et al. (1977) reported that they changed the estimate of 12 to 2 kg on the advice of Dr. G.R. Levi-Donati, who pointed out that there are considerably <2 kg of surviving material. However, as noted above, Troili (1766) called the stone extremely heavy and he estimated that before it was smashed to pieces it would have weighed about 25 lbs, i.e. about 12 kg. Today the largest remaining mass, weighing 605 g, is on display in the Museum of Natural History at the University of Modena (presently named "Gemma 1786" University Museum of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia).


Notes:
- Troili (1766) did not provide precise information on the stone impact site at Albareto. The coordinates indicated in the most recent literature, including the Meteoritical Bulletin Database, are 44°39'N, 11°1'E (this point is located about 6 km SE of Albareto on the border between the municipal territories of Nonantola and Castelfranco Emilia; Baldanza (1965) indicated the coordinates 44°41'N, 10°57'E (in the original paper eeroneously written as 10°27'E - typo corrected); the coordinates of Albareto (municipal territory of Modena) are 44°41'25"N, 10°57'59"E.

- In the first chapter of his book, Troili wrote that the stone fell in the area of "Villa d'Albareto"; in Haidinger (1863) it is written as "Villa Albareto". The term "villa" in Italian Renaissance and post-Renaissance geographical literature means "small rural settlement", "hamlet". The statement "One afternoon in July, 1766, a stone fell from the sky at Villa Albareto (modern spelling) [sic!], ..." made by Marvin & Cosmo (2002) is therefore incorrect.

- Albareto is located on the periphery of the city of Modena (about 5 km to the NNE). This locality should not be confused with the homonymous Albareto, a village and municipality in the upper Taro Valley, Parma Province.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References