 | In 2015 police in Argentina arrested four men who tried to steal more than a tonne of meteorites in the northern province of Chaco. Highway police say they found more than 200 large pieces of meteorites hidden under the seats of a truck which they had stopped in a random check. Three Argentines and a Paraguayan were arrested. The province of Chaco is world famous for it's meteorites, which are protected under Argentine law. A 37-ton space rock crashed to Earth as part of a meteor shower between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. It formed a 1,300 sq km (500 sq miles) kilometer crater field known as Campo del Cielo, or Field of the Sky. |  |
 | El Chaco was discovered with a metal detector in 1967. It is the third-biggest meteorite ever found. Named after the province it fell into, the meteorite is central to the native Moqoit people. |  |
 | In 1990 an Argentine highway police officer foiled a plot to steal it for sale to a private US collector. Campo del Cielo meteorite is classified in Group I, 6.68% Ni, 0.43% Co, 0.25% P, 87 ppm Ga, 407 ppm Ge, 3.6 ppm Ir. |  |
 | Almost all of the remaining portion of the meteorite is iron.  |  |
 "Las Víboras" fragment found in Campo del Cielo |  Campo del Cielo meteorite, El Chaco fragment |  :Campo del Cielo meteorite, El Chaco fragment |
No comments:
Post a Comment