The Jilin strewn field
A shower that included the heaviest stony meteorite ever seen to fall, a 1,770-kilogram stone that punched deep into frozen ground.
Key facts
- Fell
- 8 March 1976, in the afternoon
- Where
- near Jilin City, Jilin Province, China
- Recovered
- about 4 tonnes
- Field
- a long, narrow field tens of kilometres long
- Type
- Ordinary chondrite, H5
The fall
A huge fireball swept across north-east China and broke apart with thunderous booms. A shower of stones fell across farmland near the city of Jilin.
The ellipse
Chinese scientists mapped a long, narrow strewn field stretching for tens of kilometres along a roughly east-west line. Witnesses saw the fireball break into three main pieces in the last part of its flight.
Where the big and small pieces landed
The largest stone, about 1,770 kilograms, struck frozen ground and buried itself several metres deep. More than a hundred other stones were collected, some of more than 100 kilograms. The main mass is displayed in Jilin City.
The law
Chinese law does not name meteorites, but courts have treated large finds as state-owned natural resources. The Jilin stones were collected in an organised effort and are held in public collections.
Related pages
Glossary: Strewn field, Strewn field map, Fusion crust, Meteorite ownership