Thika
Seen to fall in 2011 in Kenya · 14 kg recovered · L6
Thika is the most recent and heaviest of the four falls recorded in Kenya. It is the heaviest of the two L6 falls recorded in Kenya.
- Group
- L chondrites
- Recorded position
- 1.003° S, 37.150° E
The map is centred on Thika. Rings every 200 km; numbers match the table below.
Nearest recorded falls
The closest recorded fall to Thika is Meru, 125 km to the north-east. Within 250 km lie two other recorded falls.
| # | Fall | Year | Class | Recovered | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meru | 1945 | LL6 | 6 kg | 125 km north-east |
| 2 | Rumuruti | 1934 | R3.8-6 | 67 g | 157 km north-west |
| 3 | Karatu | 1963 | LL6 | 2.2 kg | 328 km south-west |
| 4 | Mbale | 1992 | L5/6 | 150 kg | 404 km north-west |
| 5 | Ufana | 1957 | EL6 | 189 g | 414 km south-west |
| 6 | Duruma | 1853 | L6 | 577 g | 423 km south-east |
What L6 means
L6 is the label for an ordinary chondrite with low total iron, petrologic type 6, strongly heated on its parent body. By recovered mass Thika ranks 56th of the 254 L6 falls. The nearest other L6 fall is Duruma in Kenya, 423 km away. In date order among L6 falls, the one before Thika is Sołtmany (2011, Poland) and the one after is Battle Mountain (2012, the United States).
Thika in Kenya’s record
The fall recorded before Thika in Kenya is Meru, in 1945.
The 2010s
Thika is one of 12 falls dated to the 2010s. Elsewhere, the record lists three other falls in 2011: Tissint in Morocco, Boumdeid (2011) in Mauritania, Sołtmany in Poland.