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www.niger-meteorite-recon.de
Kainsaz meteorite expedition
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strewnfield map
The Rain
Sept. 29th, 1937, between Kastilyova and Kainsaz
All the eyewitness accounts taken together Selivanow was
able to get a relatively precise picture of what had happened.
September 13th, 1937 was a cloudless sunny day with temperatures
around freezing point. Winter was about to take over but the red
fertile soil of the central Tartar uplands was still unfrozen.
At 2:14 pm people in Persidskaja which located roughly 50
kilometers from the Kainsaz collective farm looked up at a
fireball which appeared out of the blue in the southeastern
sky.
With incredible speed the fireball traversed and descended
towards the northeast where it split into parts. Some of these
parts continued their descent to the ground, but others seemed to fade out
while still in the air. Noteworthily the eyewitnesses located within the
distribution ellipse did neither see the fireball nor the smoketrail of
the bolide.
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Selivanovs map of the Kainsaz strewnfield taken from his original
report from 1938. Of the 15 meteorites he was able to take to Moscow 14
are marked in the map with their find location. Of
one meteorite the intoxicated finder had forgotten where he found the stone
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Four or five loud detonations were heard up to a distance
of 130 kilometers. The first meteoritic fragments that hit
the ground were nut sized individuals that fell at the village
of Kosteievo (Kastilyova) marking the extreme southeastern
point of the distribution ellipse. Forty kilometers to the northwest
and close to the Kainsaz collective farm fell the largest indivudual
weighing 102.5 kg. Between these two points over a range of 40 kilometers
and within an ellipse 7 kilometers at its widest points at least 12 more
rocks had rained down. Among others Selivanov recorded a 53 kg meteorite
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Keeping the information dry
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which fell southeast of Kainsaz, a 27.5kg individual at Tash-Elga and
a 22kg at Krasny Yar. The depressions caused by the impacting meteorites
had the appearance of small pits the sizes of the meteorites with
depths equal to the vertical dimension of the impactor.
One afternoon Andrew walked to a hilltop and climbed
a tree where they had found out one could get access
to a mobile network. As Pyotr had a second team working
on the Brahin strewnfield at the same time we were eager
to learn whether they had found any meteorites. In fact
they did as they had found a 80kg individual the day
before and a 25 kg individual just before we had called.
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Birch forest on the wetstern edge of the Kainsaz distribution ellipse. Although
search conditions were excellent on this day the area yielded no finds. Probably due to the considerable
distance from the central axis of the strewnfield
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Although we were determined to catch up the conditions
were against us. Rain came again and it did not stop for
four days. We were cut off from civilization as even the
Lada Niva would have failed to cross the groundless soaked
fields and the small stream which had become a rapid river
and that cut the only dustroad that connected us
with the Tartar infrastructure. After two days none of us had any dry cloths left and I
was convinced we would leave this place only as amphibians.
The supplies of dry firewood which we stored in our tents
became scarce and the day came when fire could only be started
by the help of the Tunguska stove. In one of these rainy nights
Pyotr introduced me in the secrets of worshipping the great and
terrible god of the Russian meteorite prospectors. On their last
campaign they had carved a little idol to which they had sacrificed food,
tobacco and Vodka in order to obtain the blessing of the unspeakable.
As the cult demands never to mention the god’s name to an outsider
I shall only refer to him as the terrible ‘P’. The attributes of
the god are the spade and the detector coil. Although I was quite
curious to get acquainted with the pecularities of Russian customs
I was unable to fathom this complex chapter of ethnologic cult to
complete depth. Apparently however, we had neglected to take care
for the needs of P. and now received visitation for our inattentiveness.
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The village of Olbgino seen from the southeast. This settlement is
at the western border of the elliptical strewnfield at its widest point
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The trip ended how it began, with the only difference
that I was facing the challenges of Russian transit
in a much more relaxed manner as previous to my arrival
to Tartarstan. Since the 2005 trip I have talked with
other Russian prospectors of the Kainsaz strewnfield
including Ivan Kutyrew, beeing one of the most
successful of them. All agreed that finding meteorites
in Kainsaz is purely a statistical matter. And one has
to take in mind that the strewnfield had already
been extensively searched with detectors the last five years.
In the beginning an average
five full days of prospecting with at least four
detectors were necessary for a single find. Now,
with most of the area diligently cleared of meteorites one easily has to
apply the double effort.
Our own
party was well below this mark and we had only two
XLCs in use. I’am still convinced that using a
sensible Magnetometer on this particular meteorite
was the right decision. But due to the many signals
that turned out not to be meteorites but that nevertheless
had to be dug due to lack of discrimination the Vallon
offered, a lot of time and searchtrack was wasted.
The fact that this expedition counts under the 20 percent
that turned out not to yield meteorites does not narrow
the experience. I had the pleasure to work with a tough
and highly skilled team that treated me, the German
stranger, with the most heartily hospitality and kindness.
I’am deeply indebted to Pyotr Muromov and Andrew Andreev
for offering me the opportunity to take part in their expedition,
for sharing their knowledge with me and last but
not least for providing me an insight in the Russian soul.
click to continue
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strewnfield map
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Both sides and texture detail of the oriented shield shaped 73 gm Kainsaz individual from the Meteorite Recon collection
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