The Madura Cave meteorite, discovered 20 days after it fell - credit: Hadrien Devillepoix
The Madura Cave meteorite, discovered 20 days after it fell - credit: Hadrien Devillepoix

Two Meteorites in Two Weeks!

July 30, 2020

The DFN team scores an unprecedented TWO meteorites in the Nullarbor, within just two weeks of each other.

Fall from 2020-06-19 near Madura (Western Australia)

Hadrien Devillepoix and Anthony Lagain went on a recon mission in the Nullarbor to collect some observatory data and assess a recent fall site for searching. While walking the fall line for just 2 hours, they encountered the meteorite that the next team was supposed to look for!

Hadrien Devillepoix after finding the Madura Cave meteorite - credit: Anthony Lagain
Hadrien Devillepoix after finding the Madura Cave meteorite - credit: Anthony Lagain
Hadrien Devillepoix & Anthony Lagain in front of their find - credit: Hadrien Devillepoix
Hadrien Devillepoix & Anthony Lagain in front of their find - credit: Hadrien Devillepoix

Fall from 2019-11-18 near Forrest (Western Australia)

The second trip went ahead nontheless, to look for a different fall the DFN had seen in November 2019, but unable to search because of summer followed by covid lockdown. Martin Towner (head of DFN field operations) accompanied by PhD and masters students Seamus Anderson, Francesca Cary, Morgan Cox, Ken Orr and Raiza Quintero, lead the team to a site North-West of Forrest Airport not too far from the strewn field of the historic Mundrabilla iron meteorite. Not to be outdone by the lucky duo, they found their target within just 4 hours of searching!

The 8 month old meteorite found North-West of Forrest - credit: Raiza Quintero
The 8 month old meteorite found North-West of Forrest - credit: Raiza Quintero
Happy team posing in front of the Trans-Australian Railway - credit: Raiza Quintero
Happy team posing in front of the Trans-Australian Railway - credit: Raiza Quintero

Important note: the names used to refer to the meteorites in this article have not been submitted to nor approved by the Meteoritical Society’s Nomenclature Committee (NomCom), hence their future official names might differ