Brazil has 58 cataloged meteorites for scientific studies; a low number compared to countries in Europe and the United States. The samples studied belong to a collection of 17 meteorites from the Mineralogy Museum Professor Djalma Guimarães - MMPDG in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Ten of those meteorites were found in Brazil; among them are the Bocaiúva and João Pinheiro meteorites. The Bocaiúva meteorite, the third heaviest (64kg), was found around 1947 in the town of Bocaiúva, located 384km from Belo Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerais. Besides the Bocaiúva meteorite, there is also, in the MMPDG, another fragment cataloged as "Bocaiúva meteorite", which is actually a fragment from a different meteoritic body, called João Pinheiro, yet to be cataloged. The mineralogical differences, especially regarding the silicate portions of the Bocaiúva, as well as fluid and melted inclusions, leave no doubt that they belong to different meteorites. Minerals such as kamacite, taenita, troilite, schreibersita and graphite are found in the João Pinheiro meteorite, while in Bocaiúva are present forsterite, kamacite, taenita, troilite, schreibersite, pentlandita, magnetite, chromite, pigeonite, diopside, enstatite, plagioclase, apatite, calcite and goethite.
Ceramic fragments; Dark Earth; Quebrada Tacana
