Gursum
Seen to fall in 1981 in Ethiopia · 35 kg recovered · H4/5
Gursum is the most recent and heaviest of the five falls recorded in Ethiopia. It is the only H4/5 fall recorded in Ethiopia.
- Group
- H chondrites
- Recorded position
- 9.367° N, 42.417° E
The map is centred on Gursum. Rings every 250 km; numbers match the table below.
Nearest recorded falls
The closest recorded fall to Gursum is Ankober, 297 km to the west. No other fall in the record lies within 250 km of Gursum.
| # | Fall | Year | Class | Recovered | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ankober | 1942 | H4 | 6.5 kg | 297 km west |
| 2 | Wolamo | 1964 | Ordinary chondrite | 166 g | 377 km west |
| 3 | Holetta | 1923 | Unclassified stone | 1.4 kg | 440 km west |
| 4 | Yafa | 2000 | H5 | 5.7 kg | 569 km north-east |
| 5 | Nejo | 1970 | L6 | 2.5 kg | 777 km west |
| 6 | Bur-Gheluai | 1919 | H5 | 120 kg | 784 km south-east |
What H4/5 means
H4/5 is the label for an ordinary chondrite with high total iron, petrologic type 4 or 5 (between the two). By recovered mass Gursum ranks third of the 6 H4/5 falls. The nearest other H4/5 fall is Thuathe in Lesotho, 4,588 km away. In date order among H4/5 falls, the one before Gursum is Yonozu (1837, Japan) and the one after is Tomiya (1984, Japan).
Gursum in Ethiopia’s record
The fall recorded before Gursum in Ethiopia is Nejo, in 1970.
The 1980s
Gursum is one of 54 falls dated to the 1980s. Elsewhere, the record lists six other falls in 1981, among them Omolon in Russia, Machinga in Malawi, Akyumak in Turkey.