Iron meteorite, fine octahedrite - IVA, Great Nama Land, Namibia
Gibeon iron meteorites are the bounty of a huge meteorite shower that occurred approximately ten thousand years ago. They originate from the molten core of an asteroid which was liberated as a result of a catastrophic impact with another asteroid. The shattered remains are primarily found in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, but some of the chunks went flying in different directions and a few found themselves on different routes to Earth. A journey of millions of years in interplanetary space ensued, and what were to become Gibeon meteorites slammed into Earth’s upper atmosphere before exploding and showering down in what is now Namibia, at the edge of the Kalahari Desert. From an analysis of their chemical compositions, we know Gibeon and Muonionalusta meteorites are from the same parent body, but Muonionalusta arrived on Earth a million years ago. There is a likelihood that other masses from the same parent body arrived tens or hundreds of millions of years earlier, but those meteorites would have disintegrated due to their exposure to weather and the oxidizing agents in Earth’s soil.
Local tribesmen located the specimen now offered with the aid of a metal detector, a method not available to earlier generations who utilized meteorite fragments seen on the ground to fashion tools and weapons. Due to its relatively high nickel content (8%) Gibeon is ductile and not as prone to oxidizing as most other iron meteorites. If this meteorite were cut, which should never be the case as it’s a fine aesthetic example, its internal crystalline structure would be the same as the matrix seen in the next lot. Blanketed in a deep chocolate patina with mango accents, a multitude of furrows and ridges animate this engaging meteorite. Accompanied by a custom armature.
207 x 103 x 111mm (8 x 4 x 4.33 in.) and 6110 grams (13.5 lbs)
Provenance: Macovich Collection of Meteorites / NYC
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