Revisit the discovery site of the Xilin Gol League meteorite in Inner Mongolia

After 3 years of waiting, I finally look forward to you! Since the discovery of an unusual stone weighing 28.95 kilograms in 2018, Su and Batel, 53-year-old herdsmen from Sangendalai Town, Xilin Gol League, have been looking forward to an understanding person to identify the stone every day. On October 3, Su and Battle were particularly happy to see Liang Chengguang, president of the Inner Mongolia Meteorite Society, and his party. This time, Liang Chengguang made a special trip to sample the meteorite identification of Su and Battle.

On October 17, Yu Jiachang, honorary vice president of the Inner Mongolia Meteorite Society, said: At present, it is rare for a single stone meteorite found in China to weigh more than 30 kg. The type of meteorite found in Xilin Gol League should be ordinary chondrite H5 (the final classification of scientific research institutions shall prevail).

A small meteoroid exploded over the Ximen

This is not the first time that the Xilin Gol League in Inner Mongolia has attracted the attention of the meteorite community.

At 4:14 on November 5, 2014, data detected that a suspected small meteoroid exploded 25 kilometers north of Beijing (located in the Xilin Gol League of Inner Mongolia), releasing energy equivalent to 500 tons of TNT explosives.

At the same time, 200 kilometers southwest of Xilinhot, when the small meteor fell, the monitor of a toll booth captured this moment: just after 4 o'clock, a fire flew from the sky, and suddenly the night lit up like day, and the whole process lasted for 4 seconds. The next day, someone in Xilinhot City reported a remake surveillance video: a large fireball that burned and dazzled quickly fell down, with a cloud-like tail, quickly dimmed after crossing the silent night sky, and disappeared.

According to a video broadcast by CCTV on November 27, 2014, at about 4:12 on November 5, a meteoroid exploded over the Xilin Gol League.

In 2017, some people identified the meteoroid explosion as the area west of the towns of Sangendalai and Uzhitutara in the Xilin Gol League, and the exact location of the fall is currently kept secret.

Thoughts from 3 years ago

The desolate grassland is dotted with clusters of low plants and sparse old elm trees. In late autumn, the sand of Hunshandak is draped in cold colors.

Early in the morning of October 4, 29-year-old Amu drove us to the meteorite discovery site in his Mitsubishi 4WD off-road vehicle. The meteorite was discovered by Amu's father; Liang Chengguang, one of the few "capable people" in the Inner Mongolia meteorite world, was contacted by Amutu's friends.

Three years ago, when a friend put the relevant picture in front of Liang Chengguang, Liang Chengguang basically affirmed this stone. He already had the idea of giving the meteorite an international name.

Opportunities are left to those who are prepared

In a flash of 3 years, the real trip is in the late autumn of 2021.

Looking back on the first meteorite in 2018, Sue and Battle are still clear. He saved the picture he took that year in his mobile phone, and it was April 16, and the stone was lying quietly in a depression on a hillside in the Hunshandak Sandy Land. The terrain was relatively flat, and he leaned over to observe: the special shell, the unusual mark, the weight of the pressing hand. These characteristics are enough to excite a man who has been hunting for treasure on the grassland for decades.

Since their teens, Sue and Battle have been passionate about grassland treasure hunting: broken stone axes, translucent flint arrowheads, copper coins with clear writing, chili red agate barrel beads, and a single earring embedded in turquoise...... None of them can escape his eyes.

Sue and Battle are now prairie rangers and insist on patrolling the area he is responsible for every day. Sometimes, he rode a motorcycle for four or five days. With the dedication of Su and Battle, the grass on the grassland grew denser and denser, and the vegetation became better and better. "The grass roots are dense, there is less quicksand, and there are not many 'treasures' I can pick up on the grassland." Sue and Battle said with a smile.

Generous Hunshandak Sands

Compared with his father Su and Battle, Amu, a post-90s young man, doesn't talk much, but he thinks carefully and is down-to-earth. Before going to the meteorite discovery site, he planned his itinerary early.

In Amu's words: travel to the destination.

With the regret of not being able to show the most beautiful season in his hometown to guests from afar, Amu controlled the steering wheel in his hand with great gentleness.

Sue and Battle and the meteorite he picked up

If driving an SUV through the Alxa Gobi is full of excitement and adventure, then sitting in an off-road vehicle driven by Amu through the Hunshandak sand is like riding a Mongolian horse, and the scenery appears inadvertently. Graceful old elm trees, carpet-like green spaces, rivers that turn around the intestines, long-legged birds pacing into the wetlands...... The undulating sand sand sends one surprise after another into the mind, unforgettable for a lifetime, as long as you grasp the rhythm, you will always taste a different life from it.

Almost unprepared, Sue and Battle arrived at the place where the meteorite was discovered three years ago.

Sue and Battle took out a bag of milk from the car and sprinkled it reverently on the land. Come and be grateful for a wait that spans thousands of years, not in a hurry, just right.

I don't know how many people hurried past it, and in the end, only Sue and Battleton stopped.

This is followed by taking photos and satellite positioning, leaving coordinates to commemorate this memorable moment.

Rush to Doron County for sampling

In order to save time, on October 5, after discussion, it was decided to go directly to Duolun County to find a large angle grinder to ensure the success of one-time sampling.

The hardness of meteorites is well known, and ordinary machines are unable to do anything about it. Duolun County is the hometown of agate. Agate is hard and brittle, and its Mohs hardness is mostly between 6.5~7.0, while the Mohs hardness and toughness of meteorites are higher than that of agate.

After arriving in Duolun County, under the guidance of an insider, we found a stone cutting and processing factory in an alley. The cutting master readily agreed to the matter: "A chainsaw is 80 yuan for a knife, and an angle grinder is 50 yuan for a knife." ”

When he saw the young man struggling to move the stone out of the car, the cutting master glanced at it and blurted out: "It's not a meteorite that you want to cut, right?" ”

Study section sections

In order to ensure the relative purity of the sampling, Liang Chengguang chose to use an angle grinder. The cutting master was very honest and did not increase the price because the stone he was about to cut might be a meteorite. He said while fixing the stone, "Whether it is a meteorite or not, it will be clear when you look at the slurry cut out." ”

The moment the high-speed rotating grinding wheel touched the surface of the meteorite, sparks splashed, and in about two minutes, a meteorite sample was successfully cut out. At Liang Chengguang's signal, Su and Battel and Liu Ning, a member of the Inner Mongolia Meteorite Society, carefully collected the meteorite fragments that had been cut and collapsed little by little.

Cutting sampling

The cutting master leaned over to check the slurry underground and said, "It's really a meteorite." But the meteorites I cut before were all small pieces, and this was the first time I had cut such a large meteorite. Then, he added: "If it is a meteorite, then the value of this stone is amazing, say 300,000 is it, say 500,000 is also it." Everyone looked at each other and smiled.

International naming takes half a year

Before sampling, Liang Chengguang struggled: take it, this meteorite will lose its original appearance; If it is not taken, it cannot be further tested and scientifically and accurately named internationally.

In the end, Liang Chengguang removed a sharp corner from the meteorite to ensure the beauty and integrity of the meteorite parent body as much as possible. The meteorite has a relatively neat face, embedded with peridot crystals and metal dots, shining brightly in the sunlight.

Liang Chengguang believes that this is an ordinary chondrite meteorite.

Take a photo together

Yu Jiachang said: Ordinary chondrites are the most numerous stone meteorites, accounting for about 86% of the total number of known meteorites, and their compositions are mainly olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase feldspar, iron-nickel metal, etc. Common chondrites are divided into three different chemical groups: H, L, and LL groups of ordinary chondrites. H is a high-iron group chondrite, L is a low-iron group chondrite, and LL is a low-iron and low-metal chondrite meteorite. Ordinary chondrite petrology 3-7, petrology from 3 to 7 represents the increase in thermal metamorphism. The meteorite travels through the atmosphere at a speed of tens of kilometers per second, friction with the atmosphere to produce a high temperature of several thousand degrees and burn, the surface will form molten shells, air seals and other characteristics, this stone melt shell characteristics are obvious, the air stamping is completely developed, the iron and nickel metal on the cross-section surface is evenly distributed, some chondrites are visible to the naked eye, and the visual type should be ordinary chondrites H5 (the final classification of scientific research institutions shall prevail).