This is a list of largest meteorites on Earth. Size can be assessed by the largest fragment of a given meteorite or the total amount of material coming from the same meteorite fall: often a single meteoroid during atmospheric entry tends to fragment into more pieces.
The table lists the largest meteorites found on the Earth's 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.
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.
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.
The Cape York meteorite, also known as the Innaanganeq meteorite, is one of the largest known iron meteorites, classified as a medium octahedrite in chemical group IIIAB. In addition to many small fragments, at least eight large fragments with a total mass of 58 tonnes have been recovered, the largest weighing 31 tonnes. The meteorite was named after Cape York, a prominent geographic feature located approximately 30 miles (48 km) west of the east coast of Meteorite island and the nearby peninsulas in northern Melville Bay, Greenland, where the first meteorite fragments were discovered.
Meteoric iron, sometimes meteoritic iron, is a native metal and early-universe protoplanetary-disk remnant found in meteorites and made from the elements iron and nickel, mainly in the form of the mineral phases kamacite and taenite. Meteoric iron makes up the bulk of iron meteorites but is also found in other meteorites. Apart from minor amounts of telluric iron, meteoric iron is the only naturally occurring native metal of the element iron on the Earth's surface.
Ataxites are a structural class of iron meteorites with a high nickel content and show no Widmanstätten patterns upon etching.
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.
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.
Libyan desert glass or Great Sand Sea glass is an impactite, made mostly of lechatelierite, found in areas in the eastern Sahara, in the deserts of eastern Libya and western Egypt. Fragments of desert glass can be found over areas of tens of square kilometers. Like obsidian, it was knapped and used to make tools during the Pleistocene.
Gibeon is a meteorite that fell in prehistoric times in Namibia. It was named after the nearest town: Gibeon.
Esquel is a meteorite found near Esquel, a Patagonian town in the northwest part of the province of Chubut in Argentina. It is a pallasite, a type of stony–iron meteorite that when cut and polished shows yellowish olivine (peridot) crystals.
Seymchan is a pallasite meteorite found in the dry bed of the river Hekandue, a left tributary of river Yasachnaya in the Magadan district, Russia, near the settlement of Seymchan, in June 1967.
Mbosi is an ungrouped iron meteorite found in Tanzania. It is one of the world's largest meteorites, variously estimated as the fourth-largest to the eighth-largest, it is located near the city of Mbeya in Tanzania's southern highlands. The meteorite is 3 metres (9.8 ft) long, 1 metre high, and weighs an estimated 16 metric tons.
IIG meteorites are a group of iron meteorites. The group currently has six members. They are hexahedrites with large amounts of schreibersite. The meteoric iron is composed of kamacite.
This is a glossary of terms used in meteoritics, the science of meteorites.
The Mundrabilla meteorite is an iron meteorite found in 1911 in Australia, one of the largest meteorites found, with a total known weight of 22 tonnes and the main mass accounting for 12.4 tonnes.
The Chelyabinsk meteorite is the fragmented remains of the large Chelyabinsk meteor of 15 February 2013 which reached the ground after the meteor's passage through the atmosphere. The descent of the meteor, visible as a brilliant superbolide in the morning sky, caused a series of shock waves that shattered windows, damaged approximately 7,200 buildings and left 1,491 people injured. The resulting fragments were scattered over a wide area.
Monturaqui is an impact crater in Chile. It lies south of the Salar de Atacama and was formed 663,000 ± 90,000 years ago by the impact of an IAB meteorite. It is 350 m × 370 m wide and 34 m (112 ft) deep and contains a salt pan. Only a few remnants of the meteorite that formed the crater have been collected, with most of the rocks being of local origin. The crater was discovered in 1962 and identified as an impact crater in 1966.
The Aletai meteorite, previously also known as the Armanty meteorite or Xinjiang meteorite, is one of the largest known iron meteorites, classified as a coarse octahedrite in chemical group IIIE-an. In addition to many small fragments, at least five main fragments with a total mass over 74 tonnes have been recovered, the largest weighing about 28 tonnes.
