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Topic

#Pallasites

Stony-iron meteorites with olivine crystals set in metal: some of the most beautiful rocks known.

Lessons (2)

  • Stony-irons: pallasites and mesosideritesStony-iron meteorites are rare mixtures of metal and rock. They include some of the most beautiful objects that fall from the sky.
  • Three kinds of meteoriteMeteorites come in three big families: stony, iron and stony-iron. Each one tells a different story about the asteroid it came from.

Courses (3)

Famous meteorites (5)

  • BrenhamA Kansas farmer's wife collected heavy black rocks for years – and proved scientists wrong about where they came from.
  • EsquelA Patagonian pallasite whose glowing golden-green crystals have made it one of the most beautiful meteorites ever found.
  • FukangA tonne-sized pallasite from the mountains of north-west China, packed with gem-like crystals.
  • ImilacA pallasite scattered across the Atacama Desert, whose weathered pieces look like metal sponges.
  • SeymchanFound in a stream in Russia's Far East in 1967 and thought to be an ordinary iron – until pieces with gem-like crystals turned up decade

Meteorite types (7)

  • Eagle Station pallasitesA tiny grouplet of pallasites with iron-rich olivine and nickel-rich metal, from a separate parent body.
  • IIF ironsA small group of magmatic irons. IIF is a small magmatic group of irons with distinctive trace-element patterns. Only a handful are known.
  • IIIAB ironsThe most common iron meteorites: medium octahedrites from one asteroid core. IIIAB is the largest group of irons, about a third of all irons
  • Main-group pallasitesNine in ten pallasites: magnesium-rich olivine in metal related to the IIIAB irons.
  • PallasitesGem-like olivine crystals set in iron-nickel metal. Pallasites contain large olive-green crystals of olivine embedded in iron-nickel metal.
  • Pyroxene and ungrouped pallasitesPallasites that fit neither main group nor Eagle Station, among them the pyroxene-bearing pair Vermillion and Yamato 8451.
  • Stony-iron meteoritesRoughly equal parts metal and silicate. Rare, and among the most beautiful meteorites.

Meteorite minerals (4)

  • BarringeriteA phosphorus-rich iron–nickel phosphide first found in a pallasite. Barringerite contains more phosphorus than schreibersite, with two metal
  • FarringtoniteA magnesium phosphate found in pallasites, formed where phosphorus from metal met olivine. Farringtonite is a simple phosphate of magnesium.
  • OlivineThe green magnesium–iron silicate that is the most common mineral in stony meteorites and the gem crystals of pallasites.
  • StanfielditeA calcium–magnesium phosphate found in pallasites and mesosiderites. Stanfieldite is a phosphate of calcium, magnesium and iron.

Glossary (9)

Questions and answers (3)

  • What is a pallasite and how did it form?A pallasite is a stony-iron meteorite of olivine crystals in iron-nickel metal. Most likely formed where core metal and mantle olivine mixed
  • What is a pallasite?A pallasite is a stony-iron meteorite made of olivine crystals set in iron-nickel metal.
  • What is a stony-iron meteorite?A stony-iron meteorite is made of roughly equal amounts of iron-nickel metal and silicate rock. The two main kinds are pallasites and mesosi

Impact craters (1)

  • HavilandThe Haviland crater, in Kiowa County, Kansas, in the United States, is one of the smallest known meteorite craters on Earth, only about 15 m

Myths and folklore (1)

People (3)

  • Eliza KimberlyThe Kansas farmer's wife who gathered heavy black stones from her family's fields and proved that they were pallasite meteorites.
  • Peter Simon PallasThe naturalist who brought a giant mass of iron and olivine from Siberia to St Petersburg, the first pallasite known to science.
  • Steve ArnoldThe American meteorite hunter who dug up a 650-kilogram pallasite at Brenham, Kansas, in 2005.

Britain and Ireland (1)

  • The Hambleton meteoriteBritain's only pallasite: olivine crystals set in metal, first mistaken for industrial slag on a moorland track.

Museums and collections (5)

Meteorites (the 60 largest of 94)