Vaca Muerta Mesosiderite 26.4g

This Beautiful and rare Meteorite Mesosiderite is from the driest place on earth the Atacama desert in Chile.

Weight: 26.4 grams, Size:  45.8 x 26.7 x 17.8mm (estimate average)

OFFICIAL METEORITE NAME:  Vaca Muerta (Dead Cow)

Abbreviation: None

Observed fall: No

Year found: 1861

Country: Atacama Desert Chile

Classification: Mesosiderite-A1 Meteorite

The Vaca Muerta (Dead Cow) meteorite is the most massive of the 216 mesosiderites recovered between 1842 and 2014. It is more than 4 times as massive as the second most massive mesosiderite, Bondoc, an 888.6 kg mass recovered from the Philippines in 1956. Several pieces up to 25 kg in mass were found in the late 19th century. A large strewnfield (11.5 km x 2.1 km) has resulted in a number of additional pieces being recovered after the first few pieces were found. Vaca Muerte is a fairly typical ‘mesosiderite’ with ~47 wt% Fe-Ni metal, ~40 wt% silicates and ~12-13 wt% troilite according to the summarizing work of Mittlefehldt et al. (1998). Most mesosiderites have a diverse set of silicates and other phases which have apparently undergone some dramatic interactions with invading iron during early solar system epochs. Vaca Muerte might be expected to have even more diversity because its silicate matrix is only partially equilibrated and also because the sheer amount of available mass creates additional diverse micro-environments. And, indeed, olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase both as individual clasts and in matrix have been frequent objects of study. Accompanying them are a number of additional oxides, opaques, and other phases of interest — and presumably more will be found.