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Met Name

Met Type

Thin Sections

  Iron, IAB-MG

TKW 50 metric tons. Observed fall: no. Found 1576.

From Wikipedia:

The Campo del Cielo refers to a group of iron meteorites or to the area where they were found situated on the border between the provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero, 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) northwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The crater field covers an area of 3×20 kilometers and contains at least 26 craters, the largest being 115×91 meters. The craters' age is estimated as 4,000–5,000 years. The craters, containing iron masses, were reported in 1576, but were already well known to the aboriginal inhabitants of the area. The craters and the area around contain numerous fragments of an iron meteorite. The total weight of the pieces so far recovered exceeds 100 tonnes, making the meteorite the heaviest one ever recovered on Earth. The largest fragment, consisting of 37 tonnes, is the second heaviest single-piece meteorite recovered on Earth, after the Hoba meteorite.

Pete writes:

Campo del Cielo meteorites are among the first irons acquired by any collector - thanks to the abundance and affordability. Sometimes we take these more "common" meteorites we have for granted, not appreciating the unique beauty and extremely violent history locked within every one of them, as also seen with that beauty NWA 869 on MPOD Feb. 8th.

These pictures show the Neumann Lines from two palm-size, etched Campo slices. What a wonderful variety of patterns in just these small areas! I thought the glyph in pics 1 and 2 is especially cool.

Images 1, 2, 5, and 6 are 2.5 mm across.

Images 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are 1.2 mm across.

If you have time for more Campo Neumann pictures, I've made an album here. They're hi-res, so it may take a moment to focus each picture, depending on your computer. (Sort by "Name" for an organised zoom view of a same field)