Siderite Argentina Campo Cielo (1) Meteorites Raw Minerals Stones Rocks Collecting

Description

Origin : Argentina (Campo del Cielo, Gran Chaco, Gualamba)

Geological era : Recent

Age : 6000-3800 years ago

Size : 3 gr - mm 16 x 9 x 6

Rare fragment of meteoric origin 3 gr - mm 16 x 9 x 6 Meteorites Siderites Raw Minerals Stones Rocks for Collection, in plexiglas box diam. cm 3, only a piece, as in photos.
Iron Octahedrite, class I A, found in 1576, falling period 6000-4000 years ago.
Included to the Meteorite a comprehensive  geological tab dates paper (location, structural class, chemistry, age, history, etc.).

The first reference to Campo del Cielo dates back to 1576. A Spanish governor became aware of the meteoric iron thanks to the Indians, who believed he had arrived from heaven. The governor sent an expedition under the command of Captain de Miraval, who reported some fragments of an enormous mass of iron that he called "Meson de Fierro" (large iron table). The location of the find is Campo del Cielo (Gran Chaco Gualamba, Argentina, about 500 miles north-northwest of Buenos Aires), an appropriate name for the location of a meteorite. The area is an open plain covered with scrubland with very little water and no other stone. The next reference to the Campo del Cielo meteorites dates back to about 200 years later, towards the end of 1770. The Spaniards believed that some pieces could be of rough silver, but when they tried to work them, they discovered that it was only iron. In 1800, other smaller pieces of iron were found. Two guns made from this material were donated to President James Monroe. In 1900, systematic explorations revealed other large masses but the "Meson de Fierro" was never found. In 1992 an American meteorite merchant, Robert Haag, was arrested by the Argentine authorities while he was carrying a 37-ton meteorite outside the area. Haag had purchased the mass from an inhabitant of the area who claimed ownership of it; unfortunately the authorities did not give it up. Haag was released, but the huge meteorite remained in Argentina.
Currently, the largest meteorites in Campo del Cielo are located in and around a series of small craters in the south-west part of the area. The dimensions of the largest crater are 78 x 65 meters. One of the smallest measures 56 meters in diameter and 5 meters in depth. Overall, the researchers found at least 12 craters.
Through the carbon method applied on the carbonized wood present in the craters, dates of 5800 years (± 200 years) and 3950 years (± 90 years) have been obtained. These dates are consistent with what was stated by the Indian oral tradition on the fall of the masses from paradise. Many of Campo's meteorites are extremely rusty and corroded by terrestrial chlorides; in any case, some present significant surfaces of relatively recent melting crust. This too is an indicator of a fall occurred in a not too distant past.
The sideris of Campo del Cielo can be described as a coarse-grained polycrystalline octahedron. The mass is composed of large crystals of austenite ranging from 5 to 50 cm in size. It was hypothesized that the original body had a flat shape and was shattered when it entered the atmosphere.