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Meteorites |
Rocks From Outer Space! |
Meteorites have proven difficult to classify, but the three broadest groupings are stony, stony iron, and iron. The most common meteorites are chondrites, which are stony meteorites. Radiometric dating of chondrites has placed them at the age of 4.55 billion years, which is the approximate age of the solar system. They are considered pristine samples of early solar system matter, although in many cases their properties have been modified by thermal metamorphism or icy alteration. Some scientists have suggested that the different properties found in various chondrites suggest the location in which they were formed. Enstatite chondrites contain the most refractory elements and are believed to have formed in the inner solar system. Ordinary chondrites, being the most common type containing both volatile and oxidized elements, are thought to have formed in the inner asteroid belt. Carbonaceous chondrites, which have the highest proportions of volatile elements and are the most oxidized, are thought to have originated in even greater solar distances. Achondrites are also stony meteorites, but they are considered reprocessed matter. They are formed by melting and recrystallization on or within meteorite parent bodies; as a result, achondrites have distinct textures and mineralogies indicative of igneous processes. |
Meteorites for Sale Pages Click on name for link to page |
Nantan Iron Meteorite Octahedrite China |
Sikhote-Alin Octahedrite Russia |
Vaca Muerta Stony Iron Mesosiderite Chile |
Campo del Cielo Iron Meteorite Octahedrite Argentina |
A "fall" means the meteorite was witnessed by someone as it fell from the sky. A "find" means the meteorite was not witnessed and the meteorite was found after the fact. About 33% of the meteorites are witnessed falls. A very large number of meteoroids enter the Earth's atmosphere each day amounting to more than a hundred tons of material. But they are almost all very small, just a few milligrams each. Only the largest ones ever reach the surface to become meteorites. The largest found meteorite,Hoba, in Namibia, weighs 60 tons. The average meteoroid enters the atmosphere at between 10 and 70 km/sec. All but the very largest are quickly decelerated to a few hundred km/hour by atmospheric friction and hit the Earth's surface with very little fanfare. However meteoroids larger than a few hundred tons are slowed very little; only these large (and fortunately rare) ones make craters. A good example of what happens when a small asteroid hits the Earth is Barringer Crater (a.k.a. Meteor Crater) near Winslow, Arizona. It was formed about 50,000 years ago by an iron meteor about 30-50 meters in diameter. The crater is 1200 meters in diameter and 200 meters deep. About 120 impact craters have been identified on the Earth, so far... |
Mundrabilla Iron Meteorite Octahedral Coarse Australia |
Henbury Iron Meteorite Octahedrite Australia |
Canyon Diablo Iron Meteorite Coarse Octahedrite Cochino City, Arizona, USA |
Muonionalusta Iron Meteorite Octahedrite Sweden |
Brenham Stony Iron Meteorite Siderite/Pallasite Haviland, Kansas, USA |
Seymchan Pallasite Pallasite Iron Meteorite Magadan District, Russia |
Shirokovsky Pallasite Pseudo-Meteorite aka "Meteor Wrong" Shirokovsky Reservoir , Russia |
Muonionalusta Iron Meteorite Octahedrite Sweden Salvage Sale |
Glorieta Mountain Stony Iron Meteorite Siderite/Pallasite Sante Fe County, New Mexico |
Libyan Desert Glass Tektites Egypt |