The narrative surrounding the Chinguetti meteorite presents a captivating enigma. Weighing 4.5 kilograms (10 pounds), this stony-iron rock allegedly originated atop a colossal 100-meter-wide iron mountain, speculated to be a massive meteorite, in Africa during 1916.
Despite extensive searches, the existence of this purported larger parent meteorite remains unconfirmed. Presently, a team of researchers is reigniting efforts to solve this mystery.
Should this iron mountain exist, it would surpass all known meteorites in size by a significant margin. Scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Oxford in the UK aim to employ magnetic anomaly maps, particularly detecting large concentrations of iron, to pinpoint its location.
Initially, the smaller meteorite fragment was recovered by French consular official Captain Gaston Ripert, who claimed to have been led blindfolded to the ‘iron hill’ by a local chieftain. Dubbed after the nearby city of Chinguetti in Mauritania, northwest Africa, subsequent attempts to locate the colossal iron mountain, up until the 1990s, have proven futile.
Furthermore, a 2001 study suggested that the stony-iron mesosiderite fragment couldn’t have originated from a mass exceeding 1.6 meters in diameter, based on metal chemical analysis.
Was Captain Ripert mistaken or deceitful? Previous searches may have yielded no results due to the iron mountain being buried under sand, inaccuracies in instruments used, or misinterpretation of Ripert’s vague instructions. These possibilities are acknowledged by the scientists in their recent publication.
Notably, Ripert described encountering elongated metallic
on the iron hill, unsuccessfully attempting to dislodge them with blows from his smaller meteorite sample. The researchers speculate these ductile structures may be nickel-iron phases known as ‘Thomson structures’, a concept unfamiliar in 1916, suggesting Ripert’s observation unlikely to be fabricated.
Utilizing digital elevation models, radar data, and interviews with local camel riders, the researchers narrowed down potential areas where Ripert could have been guided to during his reported half-day journey. By using dune heights as markers concealing the potential meteorite, areas of interest have been identified, with the team requesting aeromagnetic survey data from Mauritania’s Ministry of Petroleum Energy and Mines. However, access to this data remains pending.
Alternatively, a ground scan of the region could be pursued, albeit this method may consume several weeks.
“If the result is negative, the explanation of Ripert’s story would remain unresolved, however, and the problems of the ductile needles, and the coincidental discovery of the mesosiderite would remain,” assert the researchers.
The latest researchers delving into the quest for the Chinguetti meteorite propose another theory. The absence of an impact crater could be attributed to the meteorite’s entry at an extremely low angle before impact, for instance.
The researchers’ new findings are not yet peer-reviewed, but can be accessed on the pre-print server ArXiv.
