The Kendleton meteorite fell at 7:25pm local time on May 2nd, 1939 in Fort Bend County, Texas, USA. The Meteoritical Bulletin states that a shower of stones fell at Kendleton and photographs of the trail and observations of the path of the meteor were obtained. Thirteen complete stones and about 15 fragments were recovered with a Total Known Weight of 6937g, the largest weighing 1.6kg which went into the O.E. Monnig Collection (1939).

Kendleton has been classified as an L4 fragmental regolith breccia with a Shock Rating of S3. Regolith breccias are fragmental rocks that contain implanted solar-wind gases and are widely believed to have formed by lithification [the process or processes by which unconsolidated materials are converted into coherent solid rock, as by compaction] of regolith material that once resided at the surface of a body (Taylor & Wilkening, 1982). About 80% of the Kendleton meteorite consists of a dark chondritic type-4 matrix with at least four other types of light & dark coloured clasts. These include light-coloured type-5 clasts with less-defined chondrules than the type-4 host matrix, along with light-coloured primitive type-3 clasts which are likely L3.5.

Kendleton also contains shock-blackened and melt-rock clasts. The shock-blackened clasts were produced in post-metamorphic impacts, while the melt-rock clasts were formed before the end of metamorphism. The shock-blackened clasts are angular to irregularly shaped with sharp to diffuse boundaries. They consist of faint, isolated to grouped chondrules; shock-melted Iron/Nickel (Fe/Ni) & Troilite (FeS); glassy material and olivines & pyroxenes. A unique tridymite-rich inclusion was also found during studies which are believed to originate from the H-Chondrite parent-body due its matching oxygen isotope. However since they've not been found in H-Chondrites, a different origin is assumed. It was described as an inclusion and not a clast because there was no textural evidence that it was broken from a pre-existing rock although given its relatively large size, this is likely.

This specimen below shows some of the clasts mentioned above and was originally part of the Monnig Meteorite Collection (M-32.4) but is now part of the Meteorites Australia Collection (MA.06.0063).

Origin of Fragmental & Regolith Meteorite Breccias - Evidence from the Kendleton L Chondrite Breccia. A. J. Ehlmann et al. (1.72MB)

The Kendleton L4 Fragmental Breccia: Parent Body Surface History. A. J. Ehlmann et al. (169KB)