Giant Meteorite Discovered in China

On the afternoon of July 16th, after reaching a mountainous crest 9,500 feet (2,900 m) up Zhang and his team finally spotted their objective: a large dark-brown stone jutting from the ground. It took only moments for him to realize what they'd found. "This is a huge iron meteorite," he exulted as cameras recorded the scene.

Based on the size of the oblong portion above ground, 7.5 feet (2.3 m) long and about half as wide, Zhang thinks its mass is roughly 25 tons — and it could perhaps top 30 tons. Such an enormous find would rank as one of the largest meteorites known, perhaps even surpassing China's current record-holder, the 28-ton Armanty iron, found in the same region in 1898. Conceivably, the Xinjiang and Armanty meteorites are part of the same fall; tests should soon establish whether they are siblings or just happen to be enormous unrelated hunks of meteoritic metal that fell to Earth from interplanetary space.

source

And while the Xinjiang finding is quite large, the largest known meteorite to date has a mass of roughly 60 tons and was found in Namibia, Wadhwa said. Other larger specimens include a 37-ton piece from Argentina and a 30-ton meteorite that was discovered in Greenland.Zhang and his team also found names scratched into the stone's surface, indicating that some people in the area were likely aware of the unusual rock's existence. The etchings also expose the iron-nickel composition, Zhang said.

source

Two giant meteorites in the same area, interesting, I wonder if they could prove to be fragments of the same meteor? This one was found wedged under a granite outcrop at the top of a mountain, weird

Supposedly these things are worth quite a lot to collectors. I can't imagine what this one would be worth. What an awesome find!

cool find!


probably is from the same fall/event.

when do they think it crashed?

reply to post by fooks



I didn't read a prediction on when this meteorite could have hit earth other than they think it was brought to its current location by glaciers.

Oh come on!! Clearly that's a cheap counterfeit!


What an amazing discovery for sure, thanks for sharing.

Awesome find-That thing would be worth a packet even in scrap metal prices-erm,OK,maybe not in China.

Bet it will be a proper nightmare lugging it back to a museum-but I hope they make the effort.
I want to see the pics when they have dug it all out.

Originally posted by iforget
I didn't read a prediction on when this meteorite could have hit earth other than they think it was brought to its current location by glaciers.

I missed the glacier comment if it's in the OP article (Where did you see that?), but that would make sense because it doesn't look like it fell in that spot, does it?

Nice find.

Judging by the fact there was a granite slab on top of it, then i'd agree with the glacial theory, Which means we are talking a long long time ago. I watched some American programme a while back, about meteorite hunters, and the prices they were getting for tiny little lumps were 'silly' money. I've just done a quick google search and you could go from 50 cents a gram, up to $1000/gram, depending on the type and also if the stone was seen to fall. Which could mean this rock is worth a miniumum of $12,500,000 at base price.

hi.apologies. deposited by glacier is in one of the sources listed in the op but just as a minor aside i cant track.it down as i am stuck on my phone for a bit

reply to post by iforget


i.forgot (hehe) that in the 60s my dad found a meteorite about the size of a football which he gave to.a professor from the university of michigan. i dont think he even got credit as its finder and know for a fact he wasnt paid not that my dad cares but seems a bit shady to me.

I was hoping for a piece of Venus or Mars and have to listen to stories
of interplanetary space. The closest planetary neighbors are the one to
watch out for as in the past.

reply to post by iforget


How much did it weigh? Sounds like an astronomical chunk of a find! I estimate about 70 pounds, if it was largely iron ish.

reply to post by Illustronic


As a kid, I used to pour lead ingots in cast iron molds, about 2 tons worth on a Saturday afternoon. Hot type print shop.

Do folks even know what that is these days?

reply to post by Illustronic



i do
It's why story headlines are still called slugs!

Metal use in printing was not pure lead but linotype alloy and has a very low melting point and is harder then lead
img.photobucket.com...

I suspect there area lot of giant meteorite around the world unfound yet.

One i have heard of is supected to be under a dry lake bed in the Calif desert. by the fact that it can be pinged with a metal detector and the finder has hit solid metal at 50 feet with a probe, it has to be large.

The guy that knows the location is keeping it a secret till he can find a way to get paid for his find.

after the US government stole the Old Woman Meteorite few want to take a chance.
www.goldprospectors.org...

WOW, what a find.

... but I'm surprised. Wouldn't a meteorite that size have caused colossal damage?

Wow. 30 tons and up!

That is 27206400 grams at 30 tons.

Typical prices for iron meteorites are based on rarity, however pieces from large finds range
from $.50 to $2.00 a gram.

This thing is worth between $13,603,200.00 to $54,412,800.00 on the meteorite market!

reply to post by chocise


Many large irons, especially when they come in at horizontal angles survive the trip through the atmosphere and break up into smaller pieces. They lose all their cosmic velocity and wind up falling to earth cold, close to terminal velocity, which leaves a nice dent, but no blast crater.

Some of course come in perpendicular to the atmosphere and blast through it like it was never there... these are the catastrophic ones. A more recent small one being responsible for Arizona's Berringer crater.

reply to post by Illustronic


I dont know how much it weighed as I was yet to be born I remember him saying that it was much heavier than he would have guessed and that he compared it to an american football. He found it while he was plowing. My dad could always find four leaf clovers and arrowheads. I think that he knew then that it was of some value but felt it was his duty to donate it to science just the way he was.

Apparently, there have been other meteorite finds in the general area. A long time ago one very large asteroid got beat to hell by earth, and dispersed into a wide array. It would be more logical that all of the finds are from the same body, instead of several bodies hitting the same general area.