The Tissint meteorite is a Martian meteorite that fell in Tata Province in the Guelmim-Es Semara region of Morocco on 18 July 2011. Tissint is the fifth Martian meteorite that people have witnessed falling to Earth, and the first since 1962. Pieces of the meteorite are on display at several museums, including the Museum of Natural History of Vienna and the Natural History Museum in London.
History On 18 July 2011, around 2 AM local time, a bright fireball was observed by several people in the Oued Drâa valley, east of Tata, Morocco. One observer reported that the fireball was initially yellow in color, then turned green, illuminating the entire area before it appeared to break into two pieces; two sonic booms were heard over the valley. In October 2011, nomads began to find very fresh, fusion-crusted stones in a remote area of the Oued Drâa intermittent watershed, centered about 50 kilometres (31 mi) ESE of Tata and 48 kilometres (30 mi) SSW of Tissint village, near the Oued El Gsaïb drainage and also near El Ga’ïdat plateau known as Hmadat Boû Rba’ine. The largest pieces were recovered in the El Ga’ïdat plateau, and the smallest ones (a few grams) were found closer to the El Aglâb (Laglab) mountains. One 47 g (1.7 oz) crusted stone was documented as found at 29°28.917’ N, 7°36.674’ W. Tissint was named after the town of Tissint, 48 kilometres (30 mi) away from the fall site. Up until 1990, only five meteorites had been found in Morocco, but since then, more meteorites have landed in the area. Current As of 2012 records show that meteorite hunters have discovered 754 at specific sites in Morocco as well as thousands of others from uncertain locations. After the increases in meteorite falls, a market for meteorites drove the emergence of a meteorite prospecting industry in northwestern Africa and Oman. The rocks have been quickly brought out of the country into collections abroad because the significant discoveries resulted in high prices for the rocks (an auction on 14 October 2012 included fragments of the Tissent meteorite). This made it difficult for researchers such as Hasnaa Chennaoui-Aoudjehane, the only one who has studied the meteorite, to have access to samples for her research and leaves Morocco with few remains of the meteorites that fell there.
Physical characteristics Dozens of fragments with masses ranging from 0.2 to 1,282 grams (0.0071 to 45.2212 oz) were collected, totaling roughly 12–15 kilograms (26–33 lb). The rocks are variably coated by a shining black fusion crust, characterized by thicker layers on exterior ridges and glossy regions above interior olivine phenocrysts and impact melt pockets. Some stones have a thinner secondary fusion crust on some surfaces, and some are broken in places, revealing the interior. The exposed interior of the stones appears pale green-grey in color, with mm-sized, pale yellow olivine phenocrysts with sparse vesicular pockets and thin veins of black glass.
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