An iron mass was found in 1859 in western Alabama, USA, followed in subsequent years by the recovery of five additional masses. The six iron masses had a combined weight of 43.8 kg. In 1867, an extensively oxidized 3.63 kg mass was plowed up 250 km east of the Tombigbee River find. It has been given the official name of Auburn, but is commonly considered to be a transported piece of Tombigbee River. Although Tombigbee River was initially classified as an ungrouped iron, it shared a similar composition with two later found iron meteorites, La Primitiva and Bellsbank, and these three meteorites became known as the Bellsbank Trio. The photo above shows a 117.2 g slice of this rare fall, acquired from the United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution. > read more

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La Primitiva

Between 1888 and 1911, six iron masses weighing together 27.4 kg were found in and around the nitrate plants in the Tarapaca Region of Chile. The photo above shows a 74 g partial slice, acquired from Sergey Vasiliev—SV Meteorites.

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Bellsbank

A 38 kg iron mass was found just below the surface in Cape Province, South Africa, in 1955. The photo above shows a 22.2 g partial slice, acquired from the United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

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Twannberg

A 15.91 kg iron was found in a field in the village of Twann, Switzerland in May 1984. A 2.2 kg paired mass was subsequently discovered by M. Jost in January 2000. With the discovery of Twannberg, and its observed genetic relationship with the three irons presented above, the grouplet became known as the Bellsbank Quartet. The photo above shows a 74 g slice from the first found mass, acquired from the Jim Schwade Collection.

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Guanaco

A single 13.1 kg iron meteorite was found in Antofagasta, Chile in 2000. Guanaco became the requisite fifth recognized member of this Ni-poor (4.3%), schreibersite-rich iron group (the Bellsbank Quintet), and therefore, John T. Wasson has proposed that this new group be given the designation IIG. Shown in the photo above is a 310 g slice acquired from Rodrigo Martinez—Atacama Desert Meteorites. > read more

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© 1997–2008 by David Weir