Iron Meteorites – Aerolite Meteorites

Canyon Diablo 10-15g

Iron IAB-MG, Found in United States, 1891

Meteor Crater is the most recognizable and best-known meteorite feature on Earth and is visited by many thousands of tourists annually. Estimates of its age vary from 25,000 to 50,000 years, but all parties concur that it is the finest and best-preserved large meteorite crater on our planet.

It was also the first proven meteorite crater. Geologist, miner, entrepreneur, and visionary Daniel Barringer was convinced the feature was a meteorite crater, defying the popular opinion of so-called experts at the time. Barringer spent a fortune searching for what he believe to be a giant meteorite buried under the crater. He was right about the crater, but wrong about the meteorite. We now know that the mass fragmented and part of it vaporized upon impact. But Barringer’s insight and determination gave him an honored place in meteorite history and the site is still sometimes referred to as Barringer Crater.

Another key figure in space rock history, innovative meteoriticist H.H. Nininger, conducted many years of important research at the site and also opened the world’s first private meteorite museum alongside nearby Route 66. Meteor Crater was studied by legendary geologist Gene Shoemaker and some of the NASA Apollo astronauts were trained there prior to their moon missions.

Canyon Diablo is a steep-sided ravine some distance west of the crater and meteorites found around the crater take their name from it (the convention being that meteorites are named after the nearest town or geographical feature to their fall location and they could hardly be named after the crater that they, themselves, formed). Meteor Crater is internationally recognized as a scientific site of unique importance and meteorite collecting there is no longer permitted. Older specimens that were found during the first half of the 19th century, or earlier, when collecting was still allowed are, therefore, highly desirable.

teorite classroom in a single rock.”

Campo Crystal: Iron Meteorite Collectible

In 1576, an expedition in northern Argentina discovered a large mass of iron after hearing native legends of its existence–they claimed the mass had fallen from the sky in a place called “Piguem Nonralta,” which translates to “Field of Heaven.” The mass was forgotten until it was rediscovered in 1774 by Don Bartolomé Francisco de Maguna, who believed it to be the tip of an iron vein. Another expedition in 1783 estimated its mass at 15 tonnes and concluded it was a volcanic formation. Samples were later analyzed and found to contain 90% iron and 10% nickel, confirming a meteoritic origin. In 1969, the second-largest mass, El Chaco, was discovered, weighing around 37 tonnes. More than 100 tonnes of fragments have been found, making it the heaviest set of such finds on Earth. Attempts to steal the meteorites have been foiled, with El Chaco now protected by provincial law. In 2016, the largest-known meteorite of the strewn field was unearthed, the Gancedo meteorite, with a mass of 30,800 kilograms.

You can own one of the smallest known Campo meteorites, referred to as a Campo crystal.

Campo Crystals: ~2g

Campo del Cielo is a class IAB iron meteorite, comprised of about 93% iron and 6.7% nickel, plus small amounts of trace elements including gallium, germanium, cobalt, and iridium.

In English, the name means “Field of Heaven” or “Field of the sky” and Campo del Cielo is an important historic meteorite, first recorded in 1576 by Spanish explorers under Captain de Miraval in Chaco province, Argentina. De Miraval recovered several fragments in Gran Chaco Gualamba — an area known to be otherwise largely devoid of stones — from a mass known as “Meson de Fierro” (large table of iron). In his Handbook of Iron Meteorites, Vagn Buchwald notes that the “Governor of Santiago del Estero expressly sent Miraval to locate the iron which was known to the Indians and was regarded as having fallen from heaven,” indicating that local peoples were aware of its existence prior to 1576, making Campo del Cielo one of Earth’s oldest-known meteorites.

Campo Crystals: 15-25g

Campo del Cielo is a class IAB iron meteorite, comprised of about 93% iron and 6.7% nickel, plus small amounts of trace elements including gallium, germanium, cobalt, and iridium.

Campo Crystals: 30-40g

Campo del Cielo is a class IAB iron meteorite, comprised of about 93% iron and 6.7% nickel, plus small amounts of trace elements including gallium, germanium, cobalt, and iridium.