Lot 45
Canyon Diablo
The Robert Elliott Meteorite Collection
Auction: 18 August 2009 at 15:00 BST
Description
Etched end piece
Dimensions
603g, 12.4 x 7.2 x 3.7cm
Footnote
Canyon Diablo (Coconino County, Arizona, USA) IAB (iron) - found 1891
Probably the best known of all meteorites, thanks to the huge and impressive impact crater on the plains near Canyon Diablo, Arizona, known as 'Meteor Crater'.
After the discovery of iron masses lying around the crater, lawyer and geologist Daniel Barringer recognized it as a potential site for mining valuable iron. Barringer staked mining claims on the site and began a search for the huge iron mass, which he believed to lie somewhere deep within the centre of the crater. Barringer spent $600,000 drilling scores of drill holes in the crater floor, searching for the mass without success. After 20 years, Barringer decided that the mass must lie under the South rim and drilled test holes there. Eventually, this too was abandoned.
In 1908, it had been suggested that the large iron mass must have vaporised on impact, and the later discovery of tiny spherical iron droplets, considered to be the remains of the mass, lying NE of the crater, supported this theory.
The crater is now operated by Meteor Crater Enterprises as a tourist attraction.