Iron, coarse octahedrite – IIAB Maritime Territory, Siberia, Russia

At 10:30 A.M. on February 12, 1947 the largest meteorite fall since the dawn of civilization occurred. It streaked over the Sikhote-Alin Mountains and at an altitude of just 5 km it violently exploded, showering the snowy Siberian taiga with tens of tons of material. There are two types of Sikhote-Alin: those which experienced frictional heating in the upper atmosphere which are gently scalloped, and the jagged and twisted shrapnel-like specimens (from the low altitude explosion). This is an example of the latter. The fragments from this explosion, including the fragment now offered, fell within an elliptical debris field about 1.6 km2 in area. The conspicuous shearing from a larger mass is testament to the massive forces this meteorite experienced before impact. Originating from the asteroid belt, this is a choice example from a historic meteorite shower.