Morristown meteorite, Hamblen County, Tennessee, USAi

Regional Level Types
Morristown meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Hamblen County	County
Tennessee	State
USA	Country

Stony-iron, Mesosiderite-A3
Find, 1887; 16.3 kg
Synonyms: Safford Meteorite, Hamblen County

In a collection of iron ores J. M. Safford recognized some meteoritic materials (largest pieces — 6 kg & 5 kg). After securing these pieces, he soon located several additional masses turned up by plowing around the original discovery site. Metallic and silicate proportions of the meteorite were approximately equal with the Fe-Ni metal (7.7%Ni) being both malleable and unusually tough. Merrill (1896) recognized the meteorite as a mesosiderite while noting that metallic portions in some regions were found as spongy masses enclosing silicates while in other places the metal was found only as disseminated globules or nearly excluded. Today, Morristown with its highly reequilibrated cataclastic matrix is more precisely classified as a Mesosiderite-A3 (rel. high in plagioclase). After a few decade, the characteristic primary silicate phases — both as isolated grains and in the more equilibrated matrix — as well as the main features of the Fe-Ni metal network and accessory troilite and schreibersite had been described. In recent decades, a number of additional minor and trace constituents have been recognized and studied as well. Morristown's reported mineral inventory is quite similar to those of other mesosiderites, but providing a fundamental framework for understanding these brecciated mineralogical melanges remains a work in progress.

Morristown is one of only 3 mesosiderites classified as belonging to the mesosiderite-A3 subclass-petrologic group. Only 37 of the (usually larger) mesosiderites have been fully classified. As the 21st Century began, the largest remaining mass (2.9 kg) was held at the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago). Moderately large masses of 1.9 and 1.8 kg were also held at the National Museum in Budapest and the U. S. National Museum in Washington, respectively.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References