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April 13, 1976

Dr. V.K.S. Varadan
Director General
Geological Survey of India
27, Jawaharlal Nehru Road
Calcutta-700 013, India

Dear Dr. Varadan:

I have heard reports of a major meteorite fall near Dhajala in Gujarat on the 28th of January of this year.  Would it be possible to obtain both specific details on the fall and specimen material for the Smithsonian meteorite collection?

Enclosed is a copy of a recent [[underline]]Meteoritical Bulletin[[/underlined]].  This publication is sponsored by the Meteoritical Society and appears periodically in the Society's journal, [[underlined]]Meteoritics[[/underlined]].  An issue is currently in press, and I am preparing an issue for publication later this year.  I would appreciate information and circumstances of this fall to include in the next Bulletin.  This will establish the name in the meteoritic literature without in any way restricting future publication of a descriptive report.

We are also very interested in obtaining a generous sample of the Dhajala meteorite for preservation and study here at the Smithsonian.  We would be glad to make an appropriate exchange.  Enclosed is a list of our collection compiled recently by Brian Mason.  Your representative could use this to select meteorites that might be of particular importance to your collection.  We would be interested in a sample as large as 500 g, but I understand that this would have to depend upon how much has been recovered.

Thank you very much for your consideration of these requests.

Sincerely,

Roy S. Clarke, Jr.
Curator
Division of Meteorites

Enclosure

RSC/kp