Iron meteorite

Iron meteorite
— Type —
Tamentit Iron Meteorite, found in 1864 in the Sahara,[1] weighing about 500 kg (1,100 lb). On display at Vulcania park in France.
Compositional typeIron
Parent body>50
Composition>95% iron, nickel, and cobalt; 5–25% nickel
TKWc. 500 short tons (450 t)
Widmanstätten pattern as seen on an etched and polished slice of an olivine-free portion of the Seymchan meteorite.[a] Scale unknown.

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,[3] with the exception of the IIE iron meteorite group.[4]

The iron found in iron meteorites was one of the earliest sources of usable iron available to humans, due to the malleability and ductility of the meteoric iron,[5] before the development of smelting that signaled the beginning of the Iron Age.

  1. ^ "Tamentit". Meteoritical Bulletin Database. Lunar and Planetary Institute. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  2. ^ van Niekerk, D.; et al. (August 2007). "Seymchan: A Main Group Pallasite - Not an Iron Meteorite". Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 42 (S8): A154. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2007.tb00601.x.
  3. ^ M. K. Weisberg; T. J. McCoy, A. N. Krot (2006). "Systematics and Evaluation of Meteorite Classification/s". In D. S. Lauretta; H. Y. McSween, Jr. (eds.). Meteorites and the early Solar System II (PDF). Tucson: University of Arizona Press. pp. 19–52. ISBN 978-0816525621. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  4. ^ Wasson, John T. (January 2017). "Formation of non-magmatic iron-meteorite group IIE". Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 197: 396–416. Bibcode:2017GeCoA.197..396W. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2016.09.043.
  5. ^ "Meteoric Iron- Properties and Use". www.tf.uni-kiel.de. Retrieved 5 June 2021.


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