Odessa
Odessa - Ector County, Texas U.S.A.
Type - Iron , Nickel Iron Coarse Octahedrite
Class - (IA)
Found - Before 1922
The Odessa meteorite created several craters in what is now a working Texas oil field, it is the second most famous meteorite cratering incident in the United States. Thousands of small meteorites have been removed from the area over the years.
It came from outer space - June 13, 2002
By Ian Heald
Odessa American
The Odessa Meteor Crater Visitor Center is open for business.
Construction on the $500,000 state-funded center began last summer. The 5,000-square-foot building is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. It is closed Mondays.
Tom Rodman, an Odessa attorney and meteor crater aficionado, said daily attendance at the crater is expected to double from 15 to 30 people per day with the addition of the visitor center.
The center is located on Meteor Crater Road, southwest of West Loop 338 and Interstate 20.
“It will increase attendance dramatically,” Rodman said. “Attendance will also be helped by the new interchange where you can get directly off Interstate 20 to the Meteor Crater Road at exit 108.”
Don Bonifay, county public works director, said the county plans to have a grand opening of the center in the near future, maybe even later this month.
The county was waiting for access to Meteor Crater Road from Interstate 20. That access became available this week.
Before this week, I-20 travelers were prevented from accessing Meteor Crater Road because there wasn’t a vehicle crossing over the tracks. On Monday, the Texas Department. of Transportation completed building an asphalt ramp over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.
Now, any visitors passing through Odessa will have easy access to the center, Rodman said.
And after making the trip down Meteor Crater Road, visitors to the center will have plenty to look at, Rodman said. In addition to the actual crater, which is just south of the center, the center has on display numerous meteorites, desert glass, shattered meteorites and tektites from around the world. The center also shows a video with information about meteor craters.
The visitor center was originally scheduled to open last August. Construction was delayed early last summer because the county hadn’t submitted all the required paperwork for a $500,000 grant to Texas Parks and Wildlife, said Tim Hogsett, director of recreational grants for TPW.
“We waited for some time for the county to give us the information we needed for the contract,” Hogsett said at the time. “We have since done that. Now, everything is progressing satisfactorily.”
Some of the paperwork that slowed down the project included copies of the deed to prove that the county owned the land and written proof that construction of the visitor center would not disrupt any utility lines.
Pena Blanca Springs
Pena Blanca Springs - Marathon, Brewster County, Texas U.S.A.
Type - Stone Aubrite
Class - (AUB)
Fell - On August 2, 1946
On August 2, 1946, several ranch hands were startled during a little picnic at a pond when a sonic boom sounded and moments later a meteorite splashed directly into the pond, they dove in for it.
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Quijingue
Quijingue - Bahia, Brazil
Type - Stony - IronPallasite
Class -(PAL)
Found - Found - 1984
This beautiful pallasite was dug up in 1984 on a farm in Brazil. Only one mass has been found, weighing only 59 kilo's. this pallasite reveals a metallic nickel-iron matrix peppered with beautiful
olivine crystals
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Renfrow
Renfrow - Oklahoma, U.S.A.
Type - Stone, Olivine - hypersthene chondrite
Class -(L6)
Found - Found about 1986, recognized 1995
A single stone was found on an unfarmed hill side . The original finder gave the meteorite away in payment for a debt. This stone shows a good amount of metal in a nearly black matrix.
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Richfield
Richfield - Morton County, Kansas
Type - Stone, Ordinary chondrite
Class -(LL3.7)
Found - About 1983
A single stone was found during terracing a field, This is a rare meteorite LL3.7 !!! Total weight 41 kilograms
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Salaices
Salaices - Chihuahua, Mexico
Type - Stone, Olivine bronzite chondrite
Class -(H4)
Found -1971
In 1971 a single 3.9 kilogram stone was found just south of Salaices. It was found within the Allende strewnfield. It displays a nice brown matrix with lots of metal flakes throughout.
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Seymchan
Seymchan - Magadan,far east Russia
Type Iron - IIE, Pallasite, Coarse Octahedrite
Class -(PAL)
Found -1967 and 2004
It was a big surprise cutting into this meteorite.
It was thought to be an Iron, but was found to contain olivine crystals,
making it a pallasite. 312 kilo's were found in 1967 and but since 1967,
another 250-350 kilos have been recovered.
Many of the crystals were oxidized and black,
but a few contained orange and green color.
Most of the beautiful pieces like this have disappeared into collections.
Now is your chance to own a beautiful pallasite
To Midwest Meteorites
Seymchan
Seymchan - Magadan,far east Russia
Type Iron - IIE, Pallasite, Coarse Octahedrite
Class -(PAL)
Found -1967 and 2004
It was a big surprise cutting into this meteorite.
It was thought to be an Iron, but was found to contain olivine crystals,
making it a pallasite. 312 kilo's were found in 1967 and but since 1967,
another 250-350 kilos have been recovered.
Many of the crystals were oxidized and black,
but a few contained orange and green color.
Most of the beautiful pieces like this have disappeared into collections.
Now is your chance to own a beautiful pallasite
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Sikhote-Alin
Sikhote-Alin - Locality - Maritime Territory, Federated SSR, Russia
Type - Iron, Coarse Octahedrite
Class - (IIB)
Fell -On Feb 12, 1947
Sikhote-Alin --- Fell on Feb. 12, 1947 in Eastern Siberia, Russia. This is the largest recorded
witnessed meteorite fall ever. At 10:38 A.M. a large fireball appeared traveling from north to south to the forest of
the Sikhote-Alin Mountains. The meteorite impacted in the mountains with a huge explosion which was felt over 100 miles away.
It made over 100 craters of different sizes when the meteorite broke apart on impact. There were two different types of the
this meteorite found. One type was
Shrapnel Type click here
since they look like torn bomb fragments. Many fir and cedar trees around the crater fields showed considerable damage
from direct hits, thousands of trees were shredded and ripped apart by these shrapnel pieces.
The other type is the
Thumb Printed Type click here
- Heres a beautiful thumb-printed regmaglypted individual.
Suizhou
Suizhou - Suizhou Co.Hubei Province ,China
Type - Stone, Ordinary chondrite
Class -(L6)
Fell -On April 15, 1986
Merrillite is a newly discovered mineral.
Twelve masses were reported to have been removed after the fall,
Total weight: about 260 kg.
Suizhou is known for containing a mineral never before seen and is found in the thin veins
of shock melt running through it. Merrillite is a new high-pressure polymorph.
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St.Genevieve
St.Genevieve - St.Genevieve, Missouri. U.S.A.
Type -Iron, medium octahedrite
Class -(IIIF)
Found - 1888
This is a rare type of meteorite, this is an extremely difficult
class to fill.
A single piece of St.Genevieve was discovered in the autumn of 1888 in the extreme western portion of
St. Genevieve county, at a point about one mile west of Punjaub, a little hamlet
no longer existing. It was found by Mr. Zeb. Murphy, a surveyor,
who retained it in his possession for several years, showing it at county
fairs, etc. It was subsequently bought from Mr. Murphy by Mr. F. P. Graves,
the Secretary and Assistant Superintendent of the Doe Run Lead Co., whose
headquarters were in the town of Doe Run, Mo. Mr. Graves has been a
life-long collector of the minerals in this part of Missouri,
and the St. Genevieve meteorite had been for some years past the crown
piece in his fine cabinet collection. When it was first obtained it, weighted 539 pounds.
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Steinbach
Steinbach - Erzgebirge, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Germany
Type - Iron with silicate inclusions
Class -(IVA-ANOM)
Found - 1724
This is a rare type of meteorite, it has been classified as the only type of (IVA) anomalous iron.
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Tatahouine
Tatahouine - Foum Tatahouine, Tunisia
Type - Stone - Achondrite
Class - Diogenite -(ADIO)
Fell - Fell on June 27, 1931 1:30 A.M.
These little green rocks fell on June 27, 1931, fragments fell over a radius of 500 meters. Most all of the fragments collected were small and weighed less than 5 grams each. This is a rare type of meteorite, it displays a green crystalline structure. This meteorite is a must have for the collector and would make a nice addition to any collection.
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Tenham
Tenham - South Gregory, Queensland, Australia
Type - StoneOlivine - hypersthene chondrite veined
Class -(L6)
Fell - Fell in 1879 in the spring, during the night
The meteorite fell over 100 years ago in a very dry area west of Western Australia. The meteorite in the picture here was picked up right after the fall, there is no weathering and it has a very fresh look to it.
"The fragments of the meteorite fell in 1879 near the Tenham station, South
Gregory, in western Queensland. Although the fall was seen by a number of
people its exact date has not been extablished; it apparently took place
during February -- or possibly in March or April -- of that year. The time
of fall was between 2 and 3 a.m. local time. Bright meteors were seen to be
moving roughly from west to east and stones were subsequently recovered
from over a large area, about 12 miles long by 3 miles wide. Unusually, the
largest stones seem to have fallen at the beginning rather than at the end
of the distribution ellipse."
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Tjerebon
Tjerebon - South Gregory, Queensland, Australia
Type - StoneOlivine - hypersthene chondrite
Class -(L5)
Fell - On July 10, 1922 in the evening on the west
side of the Island of Java in Indonesia.
Tjerebon is a very difficult meteorite to acquire since there is so little and it is virtually all in museums.Only two stones were recovered, one has been lost, the other weighs only 8.5 kilos
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Tuxtuac
Tuxtuac -Zacatecas, Mexico
Type - Stone, chondrite amphoterite
Class -(LL5)
Fell -On October 16,1975
Even though it fell in 1975, it took more than 14 years before the main mass was found, it was found by ranchers.
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Udei Station
Udei Station - Benue River, Nigeria
Type - Iron, Medium octahedrite
Class - (IA) - silicated iron
Fell - Fell in the Spring of 1927
UDEI STATION
The Udei Station meteorite fell in the spring of 1927 near the Benue River area, Nigeria. A single piece was recovered, although it is reported that another one fell. The total known weight is 102 kilograms. Udei Station is an Iron, medium octahedrite (IAB) with silicate inclusions.
Natives of the area heard the fall, but could not pinpoint the exact day. A cool meteorite.
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Vaca Muerta
Vaca Muerta - Atacama, Chile
Type - Mesosiderite
Class - (MES)
Found -1861 recognized in this year
Vaca Muerta was discovered in 1861, It contains many unique inclusions including a very unusual eurite achondrite. Large masses up to 25 Kilograms were found before 1864. Mesosiderites were formed on the surface of the parent body as a result of impact with another body. All the mineral components are angular fragments, many showing evidence of shock.
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Vaca Muerta
Vaca Muerta - Atacama, Chile
Type - Mesosiderite
Class - (MES)
Found -1861 recognized in this year
Vaca Muerta was discovered in 1861, It contains many unique inclusions including a very unusual eurite achondrite. Large masses up to 25 Kilograms were found before 1864. Mesosiderites were formed on the surface of the parent body as a result of impact with another body. All the mineral components are angular fragments, many showing evidence of shock.
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Vyatka
Vyatka - Vyatka region - Kaigorod, Russia
Type - Stone, Olivine bronzite chondrite, breciated
Class -(H5)
Found - in 1993 - Recognized as the real thing in 1995
Total Weight 35kg
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Weston
Weston - Connecticut, U.S.A.
Type - stone
Class - (H4)
Fell - December 14, 1807
On December 14, 1807, in Weston, Connecticut., Mrs. Gardner was doing her daily weather observation. As she watched through her window, a bright globe of light race through the sky. Her first thought, "Where was the moon going to?" A few seconds later, William Page in Rutland, Vermont, saw the moving the moving moon only now it was a "vivid red" and watched as it disappeared behind the Green Mountains to the south.
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Nathan Wheeler, was on an early-morning walk near his home in Weston, Connecticut, when he noticed the fireball moving from the northern horizon.
The fireball disappeared in a cloud and left a train of sparks and smokes for 30 seconds. A minute later, Wheeler heard three loud explosions followed by a rumble that made him think of a "cannon ball rolling across the floor."
The rumble was felt across the city, William Prince and his family in Weston was awakened from their sleep and blamed the cause on lightning. Prince later discovered the lightning had made a fresh hole in his yard. After hearing reports of stones falling in other parts of town he investigated the hole and found a 35-pound fragment, which he broke up and gave away as souvenir pieces.
North of the Prince homestead, Merwin Burr was on the road in front of his house when a meteorite fell and struck a piece of granite in his yard.
Yale University investigated the fall. Yale's professors Benjamin Silliman and James Kingsley collected 330 pounds of meteorites and many witness statements. This was the New World's first witnessed fall of a meteorite. Silliman's description of the fall and his chemical analysis of the stone meteorite, the first performed in this country, received much attention in the national and international press.
The President at this time was Thomas Jefferson, a scientific minded person.
It is rumored that when he first heard of this fall, he said, "I would more easily believe that two Yankee professors would lie that that stones would fall from heaven." In another version of the story, Jefferson was having dinner with a senator and examining a specimen of the Weston fall. His feelings were expressed in one short sentence. "It is all a lie." Neither of these statements has been proved to be true. Jefferson was interested in the fall and ordered an investigation by Nathaniel Bowdith of Salem. His findings supported those of the Yale Professors.
Some of them eventually found their way into museum collections around the world, thereby ensuring their preservation.
Out of the approximately 350 pounds of the meteorite that fell on the town of Weston, less than 50 pounds can now be accounted for. Much of the rest undoubtedly gathered dust on numerous 19th century mantelpieces in western Connecticut before being thrown away.
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Zag
Zag - Western Sahara, Morocco
Type -Stone,Ordinary chondrite - brecciated
Class -(H3-6)
Fell -In August 4 or 5, 1998
Fossil diggers were in the field working when they saw a fireball fall to Earth, soon after they recovered a meteorite. A 175kg kilo mass was found. When cut open a band of rust was found inside, this leads one to believe that it had contained water. Also found were beautiful purple salt crystals up to a millimeter in diameter, these can be seen under a microscope mostly on the unpolished side. Only about 7kg of this, is brecciated like the piece here in the picture, very rare find indeed.
More about Purple Salt and Tiny Drops of Water in Meteorites
Salt in Meteorites May Prove Life Exists on Other Planets
By Daniel Sorid
08 June 2000
Purple salt from outer space. It may sound like a horror film, but it could
actually hold the key to understanding how life formed on Earth, and whether
it exists anywhere else in the Universe.
In 1998, two rocks zoomed through the Earth's atmosphere. One plopped down
in Monahans, Texas, near some boys playing basketball. The other landed in
Morocco, in a town called Zag.
Earth is no stranger to meteorites; the planet is pelted by meteorites every
day. But upon review by scientists from NASA and other institutions, the Zag
and Monahans meteorites turned out to have something special: water.
When cracked open, the meteorites exhibit a purple area, which turned out to
be ordinary table salt, sodium chloride. Cosmic rays had turned the area
purple. Upon closer inspection, scientists found droplets of salty water in
the purple.
Water from another planet
It was the first time scientists had access to water that had not originated
on Earth.
Water is the key ingredient to life, and impacts the development of planets.
It composes our oceans and affects volcanic bursts. Finding water was a
major victory for meteorite researchers. But just how old was the water?
Preliminary dating of the Zag meteorite showed that liquid water had formed
within 100 million years after the formation of the solar system, around 4.5
billion years ago.
But new dating suggests that the salt crystals and brine formed just two
million years after the solar system's birth. The results are published in
the June 9 issue of the journal Science.
The researchers, from the University of Manchester and the Natural History
Museum in London, used a type of radioactive dating that gives more precise
results than the technique previously used.
Life supporting conditions
The new dating raises the possibility that the conditions capable of
supporting life existed in the solar system earlier than previously thought.
"There is this old idea," said Dr. James Whitby, one of the researchers at
the University of Manchester, "that life on Earth may have been seeded from
somewhere else. People suggested Mars or a comet. In this case, you've got
at least some meteorite parent bodies that have liquid water on them, long
before there would have been water on Earth. It gives you an alternative
environment in which life could have evolved on Earth."
The technique involved studying the proportion of xenon and iodine isotopes
extracted from a tiny piece the rock. Iodine-129 is a radioactive element
that decays into xenon-129 in fixed time known by scientists. By studying
the proportion of the isotopes, the researchers were able to pinpoint the
age of the salt crystals and water.
Same parent asteroid
Zag and Monahans are of the most common type of meteorite that hits Earth,
called chondrites. Scientists believe both came from the same parent
asteroid.
The existence of water on the meteorites suggests that water, or evidence of
water, may be present on many more meteorites that fall on Earth. If this is
the case, water may not be as rare in the solar system as many scientists
suggest. And the presence of water on meteorites and asteroids in the solar
system would have helped to create the right kind of environment for life to
develop outside of Earth.
"You have at least the potential for the evolution of life," Whitby said.
Heres a map showing the City of Zag
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Zagami
Zagami - Katsina Province Nigeria
Type - Stone
Class - Ca-rich achondrite Shergottite ( MARS ROCK )
Fell - October 3, 1962
On October 3, 1962, a farmer in Zagami, Nigeria, was nearly struck by a
meteorite as it plummeted to Earth. An unusual meteorite, it was determined-and
reported by The New York Times and Science magazine in 1995-that gas
trapped in tiny bubbles within the Zagami matrix matched the composition of the
Martian atmosphere
(as was determined by the Viking lander in 1976).
Zagami
contains Martian atmosphere, and
meteorites from Mars are among Earth's rarest substances. Scientists concur that
Zagami was blasted into space when a large asteroid slammed into the Martian
surface. Based on cosmic ray absorption analysis, this event took place some
three million years ago.
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Ziz
Ziz - (Algeria)
Type - Iron
Class - IA
Found - January 2000
A Desert Iron Meteorite - Ziz Iron meteorite finds in the desert are very, very rare.
Many professional meteorite hunters have spent years scouring the deserts,
finding thousands of ordinary chondrites and even some martian and lunar specimens during their searches,
but never an iron meteorite....in fact,
this new iron find is reputed to be the first iron found in the desert in the last 10 years or so.
Classified as a type IA octahedrite and with the working name Ziz,
these are truly delightful little irons. Original fusion crust is preserved on much of the surface and is a gun metal grey/black colour.
The crystal boundaries of the kamacite & taenite plates can be clearly seen through parts of the fusion crust, and when cut and polished,
this new iron meteorite reveals a very high amount of schreibersite.
Two large masses were recovered each weighing around 21Kg. Several small individuals totalling around 1.5Kg and a medium sized 1.899Kg individual (listed below) were also found. Ziz is visually similar to Sikhote-Alin on the outside.....lots of regmaglypts, fusion crust and some angular features, although the class of course is completely different.
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