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Copyright (c) See Contributor's comments.
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Iron, IAB-ung
TKW 3.76 kg. Observed fall 20 April 1921, Wilcox County, Georgia, USA.
   
Scott writes:
This MPOD contribution was made in cooperation with Carl Dietrich.
Carl Dietrich has made a new find for Pitts, a witnessed fall on April 20, 1921, near the town of Pitts, in Wilcox County, Georgia.
One of only five witnessed US iron meteorite falls, Pitts was seen by many people over a wide area of Georgia on April 20th, 1921. The two largest masses struck near people, the smaller of the two reportedly splattering mud on a man walking down the road. Of the four masses found, two remain with the original families or associates. The second largest was acquired by the Smithsonian, and the 850 gram piece was split up among residents. None of the material has been available to meteorite collectors, until now.
After almost 103 years since the fall and after months of research, field work, and making friends with residents, Carl found a fifth individual of the Pitts meteorite. It was 306 grams prior to slicing and was found on leap day (2/29/2024). I asked Carl why he chose to hunt this particular fall and he replied, "It was the closest actual strewn-field to me that I could reliably detect for. If the people in charge of Pitts (the mayor, county magistrate judge, and others) hadn’t helped me get permission from landowners it probably wouldn’t have been found."
Pitts contains unusually high levels of troilite and has significant silicate inclusions. The TKW was 3.76kg, this new individual makes it 4.07kg.
Congratulations, Carl, and thanks to Craig Zlimen for expert cutting and preparation!
Pics 1 and 2 show a representative 15.2 gram slice.
Pics 3, 4, and 5 show Carl’s find location, in hand, and close-up of his 306 gram piece.
Pic 6 shows the Atlanta Constitution article from 1921 with an inset picture of the four prior fragments found and the path of the meteorite.
Pics 1 and 2 copyright Scott McGregor and may be used with attribution. Pics 3-5 are copyright Carl Dietrich and are used by permission.
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Click to view larger photos
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Found at the arrow (green or red) on the map below
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John lutzon
4/30/2024 4:07:14 PM |
A great example of a stunning Iron and collaboration to All involved in bringing this Pitts from field to the mpod table. Btw, this Fall may have been the inspiration to Curtis Pitts, born 1915 in Stillmore, Ga. to look to the skies; he was five years old and may have witnessed the bolide flying through the air. Among others, he went on to invent The "Pitts Special" aeroplane. Carl, thank you for your pursuing this extra effort. |
Scott McGregor
4/30/2024 1:03:22 PM |
Thanks, Frank! Helpful to know where all the pieces went! Carl has a few slices left if anyone wants their own* |
Frank Cressy
4/30/2024 1:00:57 PM |
Congratulations! Carl certainly put a lot of work into recovering this specimen. Just a minor correction to the write up though. There are specimens in private collections. Jim Schwade had an 88 gram specimen that was traded out from the Smithsonian and other smaller pieces may also have been released. The Smithsonian only has a little over 800 grams of the 1.2 kg mass they originally had. About 76 grams are in other institutions. |
matthias
4/30/2024 3:36:26 AM |
Scott and all others involved: congratulations. One of the rare witnessed iron falls, mini TKW and above all: a brillant etch-pattern with manifold inclusions. Well documented in addition. |
Andi Koppelt
4/30/2024 3:27:25 AM |
Beautiful iron. Good work, congratulations. |
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