Canyon Diablo (meteorite)

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Canyon Diablo
Canyon-diablo-meteorite.jpg
Canyon Diablo iron meteorite fragment (IAB) 2,641 grams
Type Iron
Structural classification Coarse Octahedrite
Group IAB-MG
Composition7.1% Ni; 0.46% Co; 0.26% P; 1% C; 1% S; 80ppm Ga; 320ppm Ge; 1,9ppm Ir
CountryUnited States
Region Coconino County, Arizona
Coordinates 35°03′N111°02′W / 35.050°N 111.033°W / 35.050; -111.033 [1]
Observed fall No
Fall date49000 years ago [2]
Found date1891
TKW 30 tonnes
Strewn field Yes
Canyon Diablo meteorite, pattern.jpg
Etched slice showing a Widmanstätten pattern
Commons-logo.svg Related media on Wikimedia Commons

The Canyon Diablo meteorite refers to the many fragments of the asteroid that created Meteor Crater (also called Barringer Crater), [3] Arizona, United States. Meteorites have been found around the crater rim, and are named for nearby Canyon Diablo, which lies about three to four miles west of the crater.

Contents

History

The impactor fell about 50,000 years ago. [4] Initially known and used by pre-historic Native Americans, Canyon Diablo meteorites have been collected and studied by the scientific community since the 19th century. Meteor Crater, from the late 19th to the early 20th century, was the center of a long dispute over the origin of craters that showed little evidence of volcanism. That debate was largely settled by the early 1930s, thanks to work by Daniel M. Barringer, F.R. Moulton, and Harvey Harlow Nininger. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

In 1953, Clair Cameron Patterson measured ratios of the lead isotopes in samples of the meteorite. Through U-Pb radiometric dating, a refined estimate of the age of the Earth was obtained: 4.550 billion years (± 70 million years). [12]

Composition and classification

This meteorite is an iron octahedrite (coarse octahedrite). Minerals reported from the meteorite include:

Samples may contain troilite-graphite nodules with metal veins and small diamonds.

Fragments

"Holsinger Meteorite", the biggest recovered fragment of the Canyon Diablo meteorite Holsinger Meteorite.jpg
"Holsinger Meteorite", the biggest recovered fragment of the Canyon Diablo meteorite
Example of a small (90mm) fragment of the meteorite Meteorite fragment from the Canon Diablo Meteorite.jpg
Example of a small (90mm) fragment of the meteorite

The biggest fragment ever found is the Holsinger Meteorite, weighing 639 kilograms (1,409 lb), now on display in the Meteor Crater Visitor Center on the rim of the crater. Other famous fragments:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meteorite</span> Solid debris from outer space that hits a planetary surface

A meteorite is a rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy. It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting star; astronomers call the brightest examples "bolides". Once it settles on the larger body's surface, the meteor becomes a meteorite. Meteorites vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create an impact crater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meteor Crater</span> Meteorite impact crater in northern Arizona

Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is an impact crater about 37 mi (60 km) east of Flagstaff and 18 mi (29 km) west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officially called the Canyon Diablo Meteorite, after the adjacent Canyon Diablo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Barringer (geologist)</span> American geologist (1860–1929)

Daniel Barringer was a geologist best known as the first person to prove the existence of an impact crater on the Earth, Meteor Crater in Arizona. The site has been renamed the Barringer Crater in his honor, which is the preferred name used in the scientific community. A small lunar crater on the far side of the Moon is also named after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campo del Cielo</span> Meteorites discovered in Argentina

Campo del Cielo refers to a group of iron meteorites and the area in Argentina where they were found. The site straddles the provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero, located 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) north-northwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina and approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) southwest of Asunción, Paraguay. The crater field covers 18.5 by 3 kilometres and contains at least 26 craters, the largest being 115 by 91 metres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sikhote-Alin meteorite</span> 1947 meteorite impact in southeastern Russia

In southeastern Russia, an iron meteorite fell on the Sikhote-Alin Mountains in 1947. Large iron meteorite falls have been witnessed, and fragments have been recovered, but never before in recorded history has a fall of this magnitude occurred. An estimated 23 tonnes of fragments survived the fiery passage through the atmosphere and reached the Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Widmanstätten pattern</span> Crystal patterns found in some meteorites

Widmanstätten patterns, also known as Thomson structures, are figures of long phases of nickel–iron, found in the octahedrite shapes of iron meteorite crystals and some pallasites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Troilite</span> Rare iron sulfide mineral: FeS

Troilite is a rare iron sulfide mineral with the simple formula of FeS. It is the iron-rich endmember of the pyrrhotite group. Pyrrhotite has the formula Fe(1-x)S which is iron deficient. As troilite lacks the iron deficiency which gives pyrrhotite its characteristic magnetism, troilite is non-magnetic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pallasite</span> Class of stony–iron meteorite

The pallasites are a class of stony–iron meteorite. They are relatively rare, and can be distinguished by the presence of large olivine crystal inclusions in the ferro-nickel matrix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iron meteorite</span> Meteorite composed of iron-nickel alloy called meteoric iron

Iron meteorites, also called siderites or ferrous meteorites, are a type of meteorite that consist overwhelmingly of an iron–nickel alloy known as meteoric iron that usually consists of two mineral phases: kamacite and taenite. Most iron meteorites originate from cores of planetesimals, with the exception of the IIE iron meteorite group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fukang meteorite</span> Pallasite meteorite found near Fukang, China

The Fukang meteorite is a meteorite that was found in the mountains near Fukang, China in 2000. It is a pallasite—a type of stony–iron meteorite with olivine crystals. It is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey H. Nininger</span> American lay scientist (1887–1986)

Harvey Harlow Nininger was an American meteoriticist and educator. Although he was self-taught, he revived interest in scientific study of meteorites in the 1930s and assembled the largest personal collection of meteorites up to that time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haxonite</span>

Haxonite is an iron nickel carbide mineral found in iron meteorites and carbonaceous chondrites. It has a chemical formula of (Fe,Ni)23C6, crystallises in the cubic crystal system and has a Mohs hardness of 5+1⁄2 - 6.

Lead–lead dating is a method for dating geological samples, normally based on 'whole-rock' samples of material such as granite. For most dating requirements it has been superseded by uranium–lead dating, but in certain specialized situations it is more important than U–Pb dating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pultusk (meteorite)</span> Chondrite meteorite

Pultusk is an H5 ordinary chondrite meteorite which fell on 30 January 1868 in Poland near the town of Pułtusk. The event has been known as the stony meteorite shower with the largest number of pieces yet recorded in history. Made up of rocky debris, it consists of pyroxene or olivine chondrules deployed in massive plagioclase. Kamacite is also reported.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elbogen (meteorite)</span>

Elbogen, also the Loket Iron, is an iron meteorite that fell in the village of Loket, Karlovy Vary Region, Kingdom of Bohemia, about the year 1400. Also known during the Middle Ages as the "bewitched burgrave" of Elbogen, due to a cursed Count at the Elbogen castle, it is the oldest of 15 recorded falls in the Czech Republic. It has not survived to our time in its original size, having been cut for scientific purposes and its pieces sent to museums all around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odessa Meteor Crater</span> Impact crater in west Texas

The Odessa Meteor Crater is a meteorite crater in the southwestern part of Ector County, southwest of the city of Odessa of West Texas, United States. It is accessible approximately 3 mi (5 km) south of Interstate 20 at Exit 108. This is one of three impact crater sites found in Texas, the others being the older and much larger Sierra Madera crater and the Marquez crater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muonionalusta</span> Octahedrite meteorite

The Muonionalusta meteorite is a meteorite classified as fine octahedrite, type IVA (Of) which impacted in northern Scandinavia, west of the border between Sweden and Finland, about one million years BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IAB meteorite</span> Group of iron meteorites

IAB meteorites are a group of iron meteorites according to their overall composition and a group of primitive achondrites because of silicate inclusions that show a strong affinity to winonaites and chondrites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlsbergite</span> Chromium nitride mineral found in meteorites

Carlsbergite is a nitride mineral that has the chemical formula CrN, or chromium nitride.

The δ34S value is a standardized method for reporting measurements of the ratio of two stable isotopes of sulfur, 34S:32S, in a sample against the equivalent ratio in a known reference standard. The most commonly used standard is Vienna-Canyon Diablo Troilite (VCDT). Results are reported as variations from the standard ratio in parts per thousand, per mil or per mille, using the ‰ symbol. Heavy and light sulfur isotopes fractionate at different rates and the resulting δ34S values, recorded in marine sulfate or sedimentary sulfides, have been studied and interpreted as records of the changing sulfur cycle throughout the earth's history.

References

  1. ↑ Meteoritical Bulletin Database: Canyon Diablo
  2. ↑ "Spaceguard Foundation UK". Archived from the original on November 17, 2006.
  3. ↑ "Barringer Crater". Oxford Reference. Oxford. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  4. ↑ Roddy, D. J.; E. M. Shoemaker (1995). "Meteor Crater (Barringer Meteorite Crater), Arizona: summary of impact conditions". Meteoritics. 30 (5): 567. Bibcode:1995Metic..30Q.567R.
  5. ↑ Barringer, D.M. (1906). "Coon Mountain and its Crater." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 57:861–886. PDF Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Moulton, F. R. (August 24, 1929). Report on the Meteor Crater – I. Philadelphia: Barringer Crater Company.
  7. ↑ Moulton, F. R. (November 20, 1929). Report on the Meteor Crater – II. Philadelphia: Barringer Crater Company.
  8. ↑ Crowson, Henry L. (1971). "A method for determining the residual meteoritical mass in the Barringer Meteor Crater". Pure and Applied Geophysics. 85 (1): 38–68. Bibcode:1971PApGe..85...38C. doi:10.1007/bf00875398. S2CID   140725009.
  9. ↑ Artemieva N.; Pierazzo E (2010). "The Canyon Diablo impact event: Projectile motion through the atmosphere". Meteoritics & Planetary Science . 44 (1): 25–42. doi: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2009.tb00715.x .
  10. ↑ Nininger, Harvey Harlow (1956). Arizona's Meteorite Crater. Sedona, Arizona: American Meteorite Laboratory. ISBN   978-0910096027.
  11. ↑ Levy, David (2002). Shoemaker by Levy: The man who made an impact. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 69, 73–75, 81–83. ISBN   9780691113258.
  12. ↑ Patterson, C. (1956). "Age of Meteorites and the Earth". Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 10 (4): 230–237. Bibcode:1956GeCoA..10..230P. doi:10.1016/0016-7037(56)90036-9.
  13. ↑ "Canyon Diablo Meteorite; MET16 on eHive". eHive. Archived from the original on 2021-02-22. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  14. ↑ "Archenhold Observatory homepage". Archived from the original on 2024-02-22. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  15. ↑ Henricks, Larry (June 7, 2009). "Meteorite moves to Flag". Arizona Daily Sun. Archived from the original on April 6, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  16. ↑ "Adirondack Sky Center Meteoroids".
  17. ↑ "When Worlds Collide: Collaboration and Coincidence in a Mystery from the Skies". December 3, 2019. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  18. ↑ "UCLA's new Meteorite Museum rocks". Archived from the original on June 8, 2013.
  19. ↑ "CrunchGear » Archive » Meteorite chunk about 300 pounds, 5 billion years old". February 13, 2008. Archived from the original on February 13, 2008. Retrieved June 29, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  20. ↑ "Rummager's galactic find turns out to be stolen meteorite". Archived from the original on 2014-04-27. Retrieved 2010-10-04.
  21. ↑ "Long-lost meteorite comes home to Arizona".
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