Name/Title
MeteoriteEntry/Object ID
2002.1.23Description
Chemical Composition: Fe,Ni
Crystal System: Anhedral
Description: Common Name: Meteorite
Chemistry: Fe,Ni
Group: iron octahedrite
Location: Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater), Arizona
Description: Fairly large, metallic, with smooth sufaces that are thumb-printed and some angularity. Silver-black to gray with some oxidized (orange) areas.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
The Canyon Diablo meteorite comprises many fragments of the asteroid that impacted at Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater), Arizona, USA. Meteorites have been found around the crater rim, and are named for nearby Canyon Diablo, which lies about three to four miles west of the crater.
The asteroid fell about 50,000 years ago. The meteorites have been known and collected since the mid-19th century 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).
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.
Samples may contain troilite-graphite nodules with metal veins and small diamonds.
Type of Fossils Present: None
Hardness: 9 Corundum
Luster: Metallic
Pressure: High
Rock Color: Dark
Rock Origin: Extra-terrestrial
Rock Type: Metamorphic
Surface Process: Not apparent
Texture: MircocrystallineCollection
Museum Meteorite CollectionAcquisition
Accession
2002.1Source or Donor
Museum Meteorite CollectionAcquisition Method
Long-term LoanOther Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
Display Dice NumberOther Number
46Dimensions
Width
2-3/4 inDepth
1-3/8 inLength
3-3/8 inWeight
22.4 ozDimension Notes
Dimension taken at widest points.
Weight is in ounces.Location
Location
* Untyped Location
DS-13Room
Delmar Smith HallBuilding
Crater Rock MuseumCategory
Exhibit
