Canyon Diablo

Canyon Diablo
Canyon Diablo iron meteorite fragment (IAB) 2,641 grams. Note colorful natural desert patina.
Type	Iron
Group	IAB-MG
Structural classification	Coarse Octahedrite
Composition	7.1% Ni; 0.46% Co; 0.26% P; 1% C; 1% S; 80ppm Ga; 320ppm Ge; 1,9ppm Ir
Country	United States
Region	Coconino County, Arizona
Coordinates	35°03′N 111°02′W / 35.05°N 111.033°W / 35.05; -111.033Coordinates: 35°03′N 111°02′W / 35.05°N 111.033°W / 35.05; -111.033[1]
Observed fall	No
Fall date	49000 years ago[2]
Found date	1891
Total Known Weight (TKW)	30 tonnes
Canyon Diablo endcut

The Canyon Diablo meteorite comprises many fragments of the asteroid that impacted at Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater), Arizona. Meteorites have been found around the crater rim, and are named for nearby Canyon Diablo, which lies about 3 to 4 miles west of the crater.

History

The asteroid fell about 50,000 years ago.^[3] The meteorites have been known and collected since the mid 1800s and were known and used by pre-historic Native Americans. The Barringer Crater, from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, was the center of a long dispute over the origin of craters that showed little evidence of volcanism. That debate was settled in the 1950s thanks to Eugene Shoemaker's study of the crater.

In 1953, Clair Cameron Patterson used samples of the meteorite to measure the age of the Earth at 4.550 billion years (± 70 million years).

Composition and classification

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

• Cohenite - iron carbide
• Chromite - iron magnesium chromium oxide
• Daubreelite - iron(II) chromium sulfide
• Diamond and lonsdaleite - carbon
• Graphite - carbon
• Haxonite - iron nickel carbide
• Kamacite iron nickel alloy - the most common component.
• base metal sulfides
• Schreibersite - iron nickel phosphide
• Taenite iron nickel alloy
• Troilite a variety of the iron sulfide mineral pyrrhotite. The troilite in this sample is used as the standard reference for sulfur isotope ratios.
• Moissanite - a variety of silicon carbide, the second hardest natural mineral.

Fragments

"Holsinger Meteorite", the biggest recovered fragment of the Canyon Diablo meteorite

There are fragments in the collections of science-related museums around the world including the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The biggest fragment ever found is the Holsinger Meteorite, weighing 639 kg, now on display in the Meteor Crater Visitor Center on the rim of the crater.

References

1. ^ Meteoritical Bulletin Database: Canyon Diablo
2. ^ Spaceguard Foundation UK
3. ^ Roddy, D. J.; and E. M. Shoemaker (1995). "Meteor Crater (Barringer Meteorite Crater), Arizona: summary of impact conditions". Meteoritics 30 (5): 567. 

External links

• Mindat.org
• NASA research note

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