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Meteorites of the World

Meteorites of the World

1 gram = 0.035 ounce 1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds 1 kilometer = 0.62 mile (France) Classic rock NWA 482 () Carbonaceous — 11g Tatahouine () () Lunar — 27.7g About 20 pieces of this stone achondrite — 37g Nakhla () — A buyer purchased a 1,015- With almost no metals, stone 155 grams fell May 14, 1864. It was the This witnessed fall occurred (martian) — 13g gram stone in Alnif, Morocco, first meteorite found to contain June 27, 1931. More than 12 This witnessed fall occurred June 28, 1911, at are the most common in space but tough Witnesses saw this meteorite in 2001. NWA 482 is the only hydrated minerals — interstellar kilograms of small, perfect 9 A.M. Searches of the pro- ⁄⁄⁄ BY MICHAEL E. BAKICH fall June 9, 1953. They found oriented water. This meteorite’s internal hypersthene crystals rained to find on Earth. duced more than 40 stones, one of a stone weighing nearly 107 found, meaning its passage makeup includes high carbon out of the sky in the early which allegedly killed a dog. So far, Recovery of most stone meteorites happens because peo- kilograms in a crater 2 meters through the atmo- content, 19.5-percent total morning. None showed fusion less than a kilogram of material ple see them fall. Stones are tough to identify — they look deep and 1 meter wide. The sphere melted , and at least two amino crust, indicating a low-speed, Abee stone meteorite is the meteorite’s has been recovered. like Earth rocks. Meteorite hunters are hard pressed to acids: beta-alanine low-altitude unusual because it exterior, form- and glycine. fragmenta- pick out a stone meteorite on most terrain. has a high total iron ing a pattern tion. Exceptions exist, however. The ice-covered deserts content — 32.5 of flow lines. percent. of Antarctica and the vast sand dunes of northwest Shalka () Africa make perfect hunting grounds because of

STONE METEORITES STONE Diogenite achondrite — 41.2g the lack of rock. X Many people saw one stone — nearly a meter across MAP: NASA’S EARTH OBSERVATORY/FRANCIS REDDY/ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY — fall November 30, 1850, in , India. METEORITE IMAGES: ROBERT HAAG, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED Unfortunately, only 3.6 kg of the original mate- rial is preserved. This stone is 100-percent orthopyroxene.

Norton County () Millbillillie () achondrite — 889g achondrite — 946g This witnessed fall occurred Witnesses saw this stone mete- February 18, 1948. More than 100 Pasamonte orite fall in October 1960. The rocks were recovered, with the larg- () dark fusion crust hides a light inner matrix of plagio- est single specimen weighing more Eucrite achondrite — 41g than a ton. This meteorite has a lightly clase and pyroxene crystals. colored fusion crust because of its low About 75 golf-ball-size stones fell iron content. March 24, 1933, from a fireball that outshone the Sun. This meteorite’s interior has a soft ash-like texture.

Calcalong Creek Pena Blanca (Australia) Springs () Lunar achondrite Aubrite achon- — 7-carat slice drite — 11.5 kg Colony () Meteorite dealer Ranch workers — 164g Robert Haag of Tucson, , driving a truck heard A farmer recovered a single 3.9-kg, identified this specimen as this meteorite break up in the air. highly weathered stone in 1975 lunar when it arrived in a box of The ranch’s cook saw it plunge into a from the tines of his cotton cultivator. Millbillillie stones. Chemical tests murky pond 14.6 kilometers southeast confirmed his belief. In 1980, the great meteorite hunter Harvey H. Kapoeta () of Marathon, Texas, August 2, 1946. Nininger identified the specimen as meteoritic. The men partially drained the pond achondrite and recovered a total of 70.4 kilo- — 114g grams of this meteorite. World War II British soldiers saw this fall April 22, 1942. A single Zagami Mayo Belwa () 11.3-kg stone landed in front of a (Nigeria) column of armored vehicles. Shergottite Aubrite achondrite D’Orbigny — 82g Murchison Allende (Mexico) () (martian) — (Australia) 2.35 kg Carbonaceous chondrite Witnesses reported Carbonaceous chondrite La Criolla a bright fireball and — 17 kg (Argentina) achondrite — 88g In October 1962, — 965g an 18-kg stone thunderous noise Thousands of stones fell The witnessed fall of this stone Residents near Murchison L6 chondrite — 6.1 kg fell near a man August 3, 1974. The on and near Allende, Mexico, occurred in 1979 near Buenos (Antarctica) witnessed this fall September After a bright fireball and many deto- herding cows. result was a single February 8, 1969, at 1:50 A.M. Analysis Aires. One 16-kg stone was (martian) 28, 1969. Scientists consider nations, several dozen pieces of this Chemical results 4.8-kg stone with no shows a 23.8-percent iron content. Calcium recovered but was not recog- — 1.93 kilograms this meteorite important stone fell over an 8-kilometer-long match rocks test- fusion crust. and aluminum inclusions date this meteor- nized as a meteorite until some Searchers found this specimen because it contains amino region east of La Criolla, Argentina. ed by the Viking ite 100 million years older than Earth. 20 years later. in 1984. It originated in Mars’ Eos Chasma acids, the first we’ve found of The pictured stone landed in the probe on Mars. region. Some scientists thought ALH 84001 extraterrestrial origin. mayor’s yard. contains microfossils. NASA

© 2012 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com 1 gram = 0.035 ounce 1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds 1 kilometer = 0.62 mile Landes (West ) Steinbach Heavy metal Ungrouped () Cape York (Greenland) — 337g Chemically anomalous Twannberg Woodbine () Medium octahedrite — 45g (Switzerland) Iron meteorites make up less than 10 Fine octahedrite — 471grams Meteoriticists classify this — 37 kilograms to coarsest Nantan (China) meteorite as chemically A single specimen of Medium octahedrite In 1894, Admiral Robert Peary octahedrite — 38g percent of space rocks but are easy to In the spring of 1953, farmer anomalous. It contains pyrox- this meteorite, measur- identified three pieces of Cape — 1.5 kg Henry Albrecht plowed up enes and 6.3-percent . ing 16 inches (40 cm) A farmer found a single identify on Earth. ⁄⁄⁄BY MICHAEL E. BAKICH York as meteorites. The larg- Chinese inhabitants wit- a 106-pound (48.2 kg) iron A single 154-pound (70 kg) across, was found in 35-pound (16 kg) piece est — a 34-ton giant called nessed this meteorite about a mile west specimen was found in 1930, 1724. Silicate inclusions in a barley field after he’d When most people think of a meteorite, they visualize a Ahnighito (the “Tent”) — now in 1516. The largest speci- of Woodbine, Illinois. About but it wasn’t make up two-thirds of finished plowing. Note the chunk of iron, perhaps one they’ve seen displayed at a resides in New York’s American men recovered weighs 20 percent of the meteorite is recognized its mass, and the metal large (an iron- museum or planetarium. On Earth, iron meteorites look Museum of Natural 4,400 pounds (2,000 kg). made up of silicate inclusions. as a meteor- is 9-percent nickel. nickel mixture containing out of place in regions with no iron-bearing minerals. The metallic portion contains ite until 1968. History. phosphorus) crystals snak- Nantan contains 6.8-per- With a metal detector, you can locate iron meteorites 10.6-percent ing through the rest of the cent nickel. Most speci- nickel. nickel-iron matrix. mens are weathered and that have lain dormant for centuries. In space, stone fracture easily because IRON METEORITESIRON (which originate in ’ rocky crusts) far This iron contains 5-percent nickel. of moisture they outnumber , which come from cores. X absorbed. MAP: NASA’S EARTH OBSERVATORY/FRANCIS REDDY/ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

ALL METEORITE IMAGES: ROBERT HAAG, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED

Shingle Springs Sikhote-Alin (Russia) () Coarsest octahedrite — 117 kg Ungrouped At 10:38 A.M. local time on February — 456g 12, 1947, witnesses saw a fireball brighter (from the Greek for “no Canyon than the Sun. About 4 miles up, this meteorite structure) are meteorites that show Diablo fragmented and scattered over a 1-square- no Widmanstätten lines when etched. (Arizona) kilometer area. High nickel content makes these Coarse octahedrite — 1.5 kg meteorites the most rust-resistant of the irons. The Shingle Springs ataxite The world’s most famous — and contains 17-percent nickel. best preserved — impact crater lies 3 miles west of Canyon Diablo, Henbury (Australia) Arizona. The crater measures Medium octahedrite — 30 kg three-quarters of a mile (1.65 kilo- The Henbury meteorite fell meters) across and 600 feet (183 roughly 5,000 years ago in Australia’s meters) deep. Northwest Territory. Since 1931, mete- Ocotillo orite hunters have recovered hundreds (California) of fragments and located at least 13 associ- Coarse octahedrite ated craters. Henbury is 7.5-percent nickel. — 738g (Texas) Coarse octahedrite — 29 kg A meteorite hunter found a 28.6 kilogram specimen 5 miles north of The first person to recognize the Tambo Quemado () Ocotillo. The iron contains 7-percent Odessa crater as meteoritic was Medium octahedrite — 3.85 kg nickel, 0.5-percent , and tiny Daniel Barringer, who also identified A single 310-pound (141 kg) Udei Station (Nigeria) Meteor Crater’s origin. The Odessa crater amounts of other metals, including specimen was found in 1950 in Medium octahedrite — 851g 1.65 parts-per-million of gold. measures 535 feet (165 meters) across. Leoncio Prado, Ayacucho, Peru. Note the TONY KOSTUSIK large dark nodules. Troilite is a com- This meteorite was a witnessed fall in the spring bination of two elements, comprising 65.5- of 1927. Natives heard the event and located the percent iron and 34.5-percent sulphur. iron in the Benue River area. A single 224-pound (Australia) (102 kg) piece was recovered. Udei Station con- Medium octahedrite tains 8.8 percent nickel and silicate inclusions. Tinnie Caddo County — 550 kg (New Mexico) (Mexico) (Oklahoma) Small chunks of this mete- Plessitic ataxite — 291g Coarse octahe- Ungrouped octahedrite — 4 kg orite were found in 1911, drite — 3.2 kg (Argentina) In 1978, an Afghani graduate student While plowing a field in 1987, a but the two main masses () 1 doing research on Barbary sheep Discovered in 1776 by explorers in Coarse octahedrite — 22 kg — weighing 12 and 5 ⁄2 farmer found a 35-pound (16.1 Fine octahedrite — 65 kg found a single 34-pound (15.3 kg) Xiquipilco, Mexico, which lies in the kg) specimen and an additional “Campo del Cielo” means tons — were discovered in specimen of this meteorite. He gave Toluca Valley, iron from this meteor- 5 pounds (2.3 kg) of fragments of “field of heaven.” Spanish explor- First reported in 1838, many 1966. The sulfide and sili- it to the family he was staying with, ite had been used for centuries by this meteorite. It contains 9-percent ers found this meteorite in 1576. tons of this meteorite have cate inclusion weathered who kept it in their living room for 20 natives to make tools. The iron con- nickel and widely separated, poorly The largest of the 12 craters created by the been recovered. The strewn out, leaving behind the years. It contains 18.4-percent nickel. tains 8-percent nickel. mixed silicate inclusions. fall measures 256 by 213 feet (78 by 65 field of the Gibeon fall is the largest in Africa, distinctive coral-like tex- meters). Campo is 6.6-percent nickel. spanning 182 by 55 miles (400 by 120 km). ture of the nickel-iron.

© 2012 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com 1 gram = 0.035 ounce Bend () 1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds Main group — 1 kilometer = 0.62 mile Rock-metal Admire (Kansas) 126g Ahumada (Mexico) Pallasite — 295g Pallasite — 400g Discovered in 1893, all speci- Emery () In 1909, this meteorite — a Lowicz (Poland) Like many meteorites, the mens of this meteorite come — 205 grams single 52.6-kilogram speci- Admire pallasite was unrec- from a single 2.5-kilogram Mesosiderite — 979g () piece uncovered by a plow men — was found in the fusion In 1962, a 12-year-old farm A M ognized as a meteorite for At around 1 . . on state of . The Pallasite — 8 kilograms boy was breaking rocks on a years. A farmer discovered an a few miles from town. Two March 12, 1935, 58 stones Ahumada pallasite is note- Fragments of this pallasite were The rarest class of meteorites also is the pile. When one of the rocks unusual 6-kilogram rock in groups of exist, the — weighing a total of 59 worthy because of its large, first discovered in 1810, and — a “black stone” — proved 1881, but it wasn’t until 1962 main group and the Eagle kg — fell between the most beautiful. ⁄⁄⁄BY MICHAEL E. BAKICH dark crystals. Some more were found as recently as much heavier than the others, that it “became” a meteorite. Station trio. The latter contains Polish towns of Seligow yellow-orange peridot crys- 1968. In this meteorite, and in he took it home. In 1968, tests Further searches increased the just three members with dif- and Krempa. The area All meteorites can be classified as rare, but stony-irons tals also appear in certain the (Kansas) pallasite, showed it to be a meteorite. total recovered ferent compositions than the was the site of a battle, so are the rarest. These oddballs form at the interface of an specimens. chromite surrounds some of The iron in this meteorite weight to main group. meteorite hunters often asteroid’s metallic core and rocky mantle. the pockets of olivine contains 7- 80 kg. find shrapnel. The iron crystals. Meteorite In space, stony-irons make up about 1 percent of all percent in this meteor- hunters have meteoroids. Likewise, on Earth, about 1 percent of all nickel. ite contains recovered more 7.7-percent meteorite finds are stony-irons. These metal-rock mix- than a ton of nickel. tures are easy to recognize. No earthly mineral, ore, or this pallasite. mixture looks anything like a stony-. X

STONY-IRON METEORITES STONY-IRON MAP: NASA’S EARTH OBSERVATORY/FRANCIS REDDY/ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY ALL METEORITE IMAGES: ROBERT HAAG

Budulan (Russia) Mesosiderite — 1.9 kg Vermillion In 1962, a geologist surveying the (Kansas) Budulan region discovered this mete- Pallasite — 794g orite. It had penetrated the soil to about three-quarters of its height. Only one fragment, weigh- A farmer found a sin- ing approximately 100 kg, was recovered. The iron in gle 34.4-kilogram mass of this stony- this pallasite contains 7.5-percent nickel. iron while planting in a grain field. Glorieta Vermillion classifies as a pyroxene (New Mexico) pallasite, or iron with silicate inclu- Anomalous pallasite — 35g sions. The meteorite contains 86- In May 1884, explorers found the percent metal (7.5 percent of which Bondoc () is nickel) and 14-percent silicates. first fragments of this meteorite on a farm 5 miles south of Glorieta Mesosiderite — 1.45 kg Mountain. Many smaller pieces are The discovery of what was thought to 100-percent iron (and are known as be a large meteorite occurred in 1956 siderites). They flaked off during the on the Bondoc Peninsula of Luzon Island Dora (New Mexico) meteorite’s . Quijingue () in the Philippines. Confirmation came from Pallasite — 161g Pallasite — 1.07 kg American meteorite expert Harvey H. Nininger Discovered in 1955, A farmer digging holes to plant trees near the town in 1962. The single specimen weighed 887 kg. the Dora stony-iron of Quijingue found this 59-kilogram meteorite about a sat by a fence for 11 meter underground. He gave it to his son, who had it years before it was recog- Brenham identified. The mixture in this stony-iron is 72-percent nized as a meteorite. The (Kansas) olivine and 28-percent metal, of which 7.5 percent is outer skin of the meteorite nickel and about 1 percent is chromite. exhibited fusion crust — burn- Pallasite ing caused by the fiery atmospheric passage. The metal contains 11.7- — Etched slice of percent nickel. iron content Lamont Molong The first fragments (Kansas) () (Australia) of this meteorite Vaca were found in Mesosiderite (Argentina) Muerta Pallasite Pallasite — 490g 1882. Since then, — 3.8 kg Pallasite — (Chile) — 17 kg A single 104-kilogram speci- Otinapa more have been In 1940, a farmer Thiel Backlit thin section Mesosiderite — 2.3 kg One of the most beautiful men of this meteorite was (Mexico) found including, discovered a single Mountains A single 1,500-kilogram First discovered in Chile’s of pallasites, the Imilac discovered in 1912 near Ti Pallasite in October 2005, 38.7-kilogram piece (Antarctica) fragment of this meteorite Atacama Desert in 1861, stony-iron was discovered Tree Creek in New South — 2.5 kg the largest pal- among stones in a Pallasite — 310g was discovered in 1951. The the Vaca Muerta stony- by western explorers in Wales. This pallasite is almost lasite ever found in fence row. The farm- 1822 in Chile’s Atacama all olivine crystals. Between A single 8.4-kilogram specimen of Esquel stony-iron has the iron contains roughly 10- the United States er used the rock for This meteorite represents Desert. It was known to them runs a thin metal layer. this stony-iron meteorite was found best gem-quality peridot of percent silicate and eucrite — 636 kilograms. years to hold down a one of the earliest Antarctic mete- natives prior to that date. The olivine contains suffi- in 1986. The polished face reveals any meteorite. This pallasite inclusions. Note the large, The cut specimen tarp on a tractor. The orite finds. Explorers discovered two The metal contains 9.9- ciently low iron (9.6-percent large, angular olivine crystals. The also is the most stable, rust- achondrite-like stony nug- shown above has Lamont mesosiderite specimens (22.7 kg and 9.0 kg) on a percent nickel, as well as iron oxide) to qualify as peri- metal contains 10.6-percent nickel ing slowly and almost never get in the above image. The no olivine — only is olivine-rich but glacier’s surface in the vicinity of Mt. trace amounts of gallium, dot. The Molong pallasite’s and 0.5-percent cobalt. separating into its compo- metal of this meteorite is metal. rusts easily. Wrather in January 1962. nent parts. 7- percent nickel. germanium, and iridium. metal is 9-percent nickel.

© 2012 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com

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