Maria Gritsevich^1,2,3, Vladimir Vinnikov², Tomáš Kohout^4,5, Juraj Tóth⁶, Jouni Peltoniemi^1,4, Leonid Turchak², Jenni Virtanen¹

¹Finnish Geodetic Institute, Masala, Finland
²Department of Computational Physics, Dorodnicyn Computing Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
³Institute of Mechanics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
⁴Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
⁵Institute of Geology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague 6, Czech Republic
⁶Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

In this study, we conduct a detailed analysis of the Košice meteorite fall (February 28, 2010), to derive a reliable law describing the mass distribution among the recovered fragments. In total, 218 fragments of the Košice meteorite, with a total mass of 11.285 kg, were analyzed. Bimodal Weibull, bimodal Grady, and bimodal lognormal distributions are found to be the most appropriate for describing the Košice fragmentation process. Based on the assumption of bimodal lognormal, bimodal Grady, bimodal sequential, and bimodal Weibull fragmentation distributions, we suggest that, prior to further extensive fragmentation in the lower atmosphere, the Košice meteoroid was initially represented by two independent pieces with cumulative residual masses of approximately 2 and 9 kg, respectively. The smaller piece produced about 2 kg of multiple lightweight meteorite fragments with the mean around 12 g. The larger one resulted in 9 kg of meteorite fragments, recovered on the ground, including the two heaviest pieces of 2.374 kg and 2.167 kg with the mean around 140 g. Based on our investigations, we conclude that two to three larger fragments of 500–1000 g each should exist, but were either not recovered or not reported by illegal meteorite hunters.

Reference
Gritsevich M, Vinnikov V, Kohout T, Tóth J, Peltoniemi J, Turchak L and Virtanen J (in press) A comprehensive study of distribution laws for the fragments of Košice meteorite. Meteoritics & Planetary Science
[doi:10.1111/maps.12252]
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Link to Article