The Holbrook strewn field
About 14,000 stones, most no bigger than peas, that are still being found in the Arizona desert more than a century later.
Key facts
- Fell
- 19 July 1912, in the evening
- Where
- near Aztec station, east of Holbrook, Arizona
- Recovered
- about 220 kilograms in some 14,000 stones
- Field
- an elongated area several kilometres long
- Type
- Ordinary chondrite, L/LL6
The fall
Railway workers and local people heard a series of explosions as a fireball broke up, and stones clattered down over the dry country near the Aztec railway siding.
The ellipse
The stones fell over an elongated area several kilometres long on open, pale ground, where the black-crusted stones stood out well.
Where the big and small pieces landed
Holbrook is a classic shower of tiny stones. Of the roughly 14,000 collected, most weighed a gram or so, and only a few weighed several kilograms. Rain and wind keep uncovering more, and hunters still find small weathered Holbrook stones, which scientists compare with fresh ones to study desert weathering.
The law
In the United States a meteorite belongs to the owner of the land where it lies. Much of the Holbrook field is private or state land, so searchers need the owner's permission.
Related pages
Glossary: Strewn field, Strewn field map, Fusion crust, Meteorite ownership