Selma

H4

Found March 26, 1906
32° 24′ N., 87° 0′ W. A 310-pound, quadrangular, pyrimidal-shaped stone was found buried in a hayfield in Dallas County, Alabama, near the road to Summerfield; this location was about 2 miles NW of Selma. The significantly weathered meteorite measured 20.5 inches long by 20 inches wide by 13 inches thick. The finder, Mr. John W. Coleman of Selma, believed the meteorite might correspond to a bolide that was seen and heard by many witnesses on July 20, 1898 at around 9:00 P.M.. Mr. Coleman was quoted as saying they saw a ‘brilliant meteor pass through the air leaving a trail of fire ten or twelve feet long’. The Selma meteorite was the largest known stony meteorite in the U.S. for more than a decade.

Quoting a letter from Chester A. Reed to Walter M. Jackson dated February 25, 1935: ‘Our records also show that the Selma specimen was offered to the Museum by Mr. Coleman, June 29, 1906, sent on approval October 6, 1906, and that final payment was made January 29, 1907.’ Selma has a very high total iron content of over 22%, and its chondrules are extremely variable with a high degree of fragmentation. Several interesting thin section photos from the Selma meteorite are presented and described by John Kashuba in the September 2014 Meteorite Times Magazine, and an excellent petrographic thin section micrograph of Selma is shown below courtesy of Peter Marmet. The specimen of Selma shown above is a 21.6 g partial slice.
click on image for a magnified view
Photo courtesy of Peter Marmet