Ras Tanura

Seen to fall in 1961 in Saudi Arabia · 6.1 g recovered · H6

Ras Tanura is one of the smallest recoveries in NASA’s Meteorite Landings dataset (records to 2013): only 10 falls were logged with less. It has no other recorded fall within 798 km; only 10 falls in the record sit farther from their nearest neighbour.

Group: H chondrites
Recorded position: 26.667° N, 50.150° E

The map is centred on Ras Tanura. Rings every 500 km; numbers match the table below.

Nearest recorded falls

The closest recorded fall to Ras Tanura is Naragh, 798 km to the north. No other fall in the record lies within 250 km of Ras Tanura.

#	Fall	Year	Class	Recovered	Distance
1	Naragh	1974	H6	2.7 kg	798 km north
2	Veramin	1880	Mesosiderite-B2	54 kg	974 km north
3	Tathlith	1967	L6	2.5 kg	1,042 km south-west
4	Tauk	1929	L6	6 kg	1,087 km north-west
5	Al Rais	1957	CR2-an	160 g	1,095 km west
6	Alta'ameem	1977	LL5	6 kg	1,111 km north-west

What H6 means

H6 is the label for an ordinary chondrite with high total iron, petrologic type 6, strongly heated on its parent body. The nearest other H6 fall is Naragh in Iran, 798 km away. In date order among H6 falls, the one before Ras Tanura is Sinnai (1956, Italy) and the one after is Desuri (1962, India).

Dark ticks: 91 H6 falls, median 2.5 kg (dotted). Grey: all others.

Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia’s record

In date order Ras Tanura is number 3 of the 4 falls recorded in Saudi Arabia, which run from 1910 to 1967. The fall recorded before Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia is Al Rais (1957); the next is Tathlith (1967).

Bigger dots carry more recovered mass.

The 1960s

Ras Tanura is one of 57 falls dated to the 1960s. Elsewhere, the record lists six other falls in 1961, among them Kayakent in Turkey, Harleton in the United States, Djermaia in Chad.