Charcas ( Rus. Charkas , also known as Catorce , Catorze , Descubridora , Poblazon ) is an iron meteorite weighing 1.4 tons.
| Charcas | |
|---|---|
| A country |  Mexico |
| A place | San Luis Potosi |
| Latitude | 23 ° 5 'N |
| Longitude | 101 ° 1 'W |
| Date of discovery | 1804 |
| Weight, kg | 1397.5 |
| Number of copies | one |
| Type of | Iron IIIA-Om |
| Storage | France, Mexico, Austria, etc. |
| Comment | 3 copies total weight approx. 1400 kg |
Found in 1804 in Mexico , the province of San Luis Potosi . Meteorite samples are stored in various collections, including the Meteorite Collection of the Russian Academy of Sciences .
History
The Charcas meteorite (a copy weighing 780 kg, transported to France in 1866 as a gift to Napoleon III ) was first described in 1804 by Sonneschmid. It was found in the corner of a churchyard in the town of Charcas (central Mexico), where, according to local residents, it was brought from the possession of San Jose del Sitio (San José del Sitio) in 12 leagues from Charcas; in that place several more similar masses allegedly lay in limestone. The exact place with this name has not been established, but it was in this area that the iron meteorites of Catorce (or Catorze, 41.5 kg, found by a miner in 1885) and Descubridora (576 kg, found presumably in 1780-1783, were found). used as a foundation for a machine that crushed silver ore, first described in 1855, stored in Mexico City). The general nature of these specimens was proven only in the 20th century. The literature also mentions a lost fragment weighing 10–12 pounds (approx. 5 kg). In the hole of one of the fragments (Catorce), a piece (2.2x3.3x1.4 cm) of a highly oxidized copper bit was found that was used by the Indians before the Europeans arrived in Mexico; this suggests that the meteorite fell many centuries ago.
The largest meteorite specimen is a truncated triangular pyramid with smooth edges, 1 m high, 47 cm long and 37 cm wide. The copy from Catorze, stored in Vienna, has dimensions of 31.5 × 34.5 × 20 cm.
Links
Literature
- L. Fletcher. On the subject of widespread meteoric showers, The Mineralogical Magazine. - 1890. - Vol. Ix. - P. 91-178. (inaccessible link)
- GF Kunz. On the New Meteorites from Carroll County, Kentucky, and Catorze, Mexico // American Journal of Science and Arts (3rd series). - 1890. - Vol. 33. - P. 228–234.
- Oliver C. Farrington. Catalog of the meteorites of North America, to January 1, 1909 . - Washington, 1913. - T. XIII. - P. 116-119, 161-164. - (Memoires of the National Academy of Sciences).
- GA DAUBRÉE. Note sur deux grosses masses de fer météorique du Muséum, et particulièrement sur celle de Charcas (Mexique), récemment parvenue à Paris. Comptes Rendus des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences, Paris, 1867, 64, 633–640.
- CLVC KOMOROWSKI. In: MCCALL, GJH, BOWDEN, AJ & HOWARTH, RJ (eds) 2006. Themeteorite collection of the National History Museum of Natural History in Paris, France // In: MCCALL, GJH, BOWDEN, AJ & HOWARTH. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 256, 163–204.