BONITA SPRINGS

This ordinary chondrite weighing 41.8 kg (92 pounds) is only one of four meteorites found in Florida, all of them stony. Details published in the Naples Daily News for July 4, 1993 describe the events of the day in 1938 or 1939 when Reginald Lyles went digging in a local Indian sand mound that measured 300 feet in diameter and 6 feet high, located between Bonita Beach Road and the Imperial River about halfway between U.S. 41 and the beach. While searching for relics, he found the large rock situated amid several skeletons. It was not until 1956, after having spent many years lying outside under a mango tree, that the meteorite was brought to the attention of the Smithsonian and a sample sent in for authentication. The meteorite was subsequently purchased by the Meteorite Curator for the Smithsonian, Dr. Edward Henderson, for the sum of $200, and samples have been distributed through the years to many other institutions including those in New York, Chicago, Boston, Australia, and Russia.

Although the S(IV)-type asteroid 6 Hebe has been considered to be a probable candidate for the parent body of the H-type ordinary chondrites, and possibly the IIE iron meteorites, hydrocode models show inconsistencies exist between expected and observed CRE ages based on the scenario of direct injection into resonances. The steady delivery of H chondrite material from 6 Hebe to Earth also remains unexplained. Current studies by Rubin and Bottke (2009) have led to the conclusion that family-forming events resulting in large meteoroid reservoirs having homogenous compositions which are located near dynamical resonances such as the Jupiter 3:1 mean motion resonance are the likely source of the most prevalent falls, including the H chondrites. See further details on the Abbott page.

The above photo shows a 5.5 g fragment of Bonita Springs broken along natural fractures. Due in part to the intense temperature and moisture conditions in the state of Florida, only four meteorites have been recovered there to date. In addition to Bonita Springs, a mass of ~1 kg of L4 chondrite fragments were brought up in a net offshore of Lake Okechobee, and a 502 g, H4 stone was plowed up in Eustis. The last meteorite to be found was a 10.9 kg, H5 stone found near Grayton Beach, perhaps also associated with local Indian culture.

At 6:15 P.M. on November 8, 2004, Donna Shuford heard a meteorite bounce off her car and hit the side of her house. Fragments composing an ~180 g eucrite were recovered, representing the fifth Florida meteorite. Distribution details are not known.

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