Iron meteorites that were seen to fall

Iron meteorites are rare among witnessed falls. NASA’s Meteorite Landings dataset (records to 2013) holds 48 iron falls, 4.5 % of the 1,063 observed falls, against 880 irons among the complete find records. The heaviest iron fall, and the heaviest fall of any kind, is Sikhote-Alin (1947, 23 tonnes).

Every iron fall

The table lists all 48, heaviest first. Iron falls are heavier than the average fall: their median recovered mass is 7.9 kg, against 2.9 kg for all falls.

Chemical groups

An iron’s group is set by its nickel content and trace elements such as gallium, germanium and iridium. The most common groups among the falls are IIIAB with 11 and IAB with 10. Seven falls carry no group in the record, which usually means they were never analysed in detail, and 4 are ungrouped: analysed, but matching no group.

From 1399 to 2006

The oldest iron fall is Elbogen, dated 1399 in today’s Czech Republic, which also makes it one of the oldest falls of any kind in the record. The most recent is Kavarpura (2006, India). The 1910s saw the most iron falls, 8. India has the most iron falls (7), ahead of Russia and the United States with 5 each.

Irons make up 5.6 % of the falls recorded in India and 3.4 % of those in the United States, close to the 4.5 % share across the whole record.

Iron falls by size

Compared with all falls, irons are shifted towards larger recoveries. Only 6 of the 48 recovered less than a kilogram, and 7 reached 100 kg. The table sets the iron falls beside the whole record.

The heaviest iron of each group

By continent, Asia has 21 iron falls, Europe 14, Africa 7 and North America 6. The record has no iron fall in South America or Oceania, although both have iron finds.

The four largest groups

The 11 IIIAB falls run from Rowton (1876) to Sterlitamak (1990) and are spread over 10 countries; the heaviest is Jianshi.

The 10 IAB falls run from Mazapil (1885) to Muzaffarpur (1964) and are spread over nine countries; the heaviest is Yardymly.

The 6 IIAB falls run from Braunau (1847) to Raghunathpura (1986) and are spread over five countries; the heaviest is Sikhote-Alin.

The 4 IVA falls run from Charlotte (1835) to Akyumak (1981) and are spread over four countries; the heaviest is Akyumak.

Iron falls by continent and period

Iron falls have become rarer in the recent record. The table counts them by continent for three periods; the period since 1950 holds 12 of the 48, fewer than either earlier period, even though it covers more years than the first half of the twentieth century.

Close pairs and shared years

The two iron falls recorded closest to each other are Kavarpura (2006) and Samelia (1921), 111 km apart. Years with more than one iron fall are rare: 1890 (2), 1898 (2), 1916 (2), 1921 (2). Of the 48 iron falls, 28 have their own page on this site, each with a map of the falls around it.

Share of the recovered mass

Together the 48 iron falls recovered 25 tonnes, 50 % of all the mass recovered from observed falls, although they are only 4.5 % of the falls. Most of that comes from one event: without Sikhote-Alin, irons hold 8 % of the remaining recovered mass, still more than their share of the count.

Stony-irons

Stony-iron meteorites combine metal and silicate rock in roughly equal parts. The record has 11 stony-iron falls: 4 pallasites, in which olivine crystals sit in a metal network, and 7 mesosiderites, breccias of metal and basaltic rock. The heaviest is the mesosiderite Estherville; among pallasites it is Omolon (250 kg).

Decade by decade

Iron falls are spread thinly over time. The 1910s hold the most, 8, and many decades have only one or two.

Irons that lead their country

In seven countries with at least three falls, the heaviest fall of all is an iron: Elbogen in the Czech Republic, Hraschina in Croatia, Juromenha in Portugal, Kayakent in Turkey, Sikhote-Alin in Russia, Treysa in Germany, Udei Station in Nigeria. In each of those countries a single iron outweighs every stony fall on record.

Unanalysed and ungrouped irons

Of the iron falls, 11 have no group or are ungrouped: Jalandhar (1621), Nedagolla (1870), Mariaville (1898), N'Goureyma (1900), Tyumen (1903), Sakauchi (1913), Palinshih (1914), Patti (1922), Komagome (1926), Soroti (1945), Ban Rong Du (1993). Without a group they cannot be compared chemically with other irons, which is why the group table above leaves them in their own rows.

Falls and finds of iron

Most iron meteorites in the dataset are finds: 880 complete find records against 48 falls. The falls versus finds note compares the two samples family by family, and the iron falls page maps every one of them.