Casey County meteorite, Casey County, Kentucky, USAi

Regional Level Types
Casey County meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Casey County	County
Kentucky	State
USA	Country

Iron, IAB (main group)
Found before 1877

Sometime before 1877 the Casey County meteorite was found as a heavily corroded and fragmented mass partially covered by a limonite crust. One fragment had been heated and forged into a 60 g chisel. Weathering products are found throughout the meteorite. Curiously enough, two of them - magnetite and wüstite - were created during the meteorite's fiery two or three minute entry into the earth's atmosphere and have since remained as roughly intact crustal components. The remaining relatively intact Fe-Ni metal (~7% Ni) is a normal IAB iron dominated by abundant kamacite and minor taenite — the ubiquitous relatively Ni-poor and relatively Ni-rich forms of iron found in almost all iron meteorites. Small amounts of plessite and martensite suggest that before encountering earth, the meteorite may have experience one or more serious impacts as a wandering meteoroid. Other common minor phases, schreibersite and cohenite are also found. Troilite, however, is missing from some well observed samples and may have been partially or even completely eroded away.

The largest mass, including the chisel, remains with Harvard.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References