The Meteorite Impact, Age and Composition
A crater field of at least 26 craters was found in the area, with the largest being 115×91 meters. The field covered an area of 3×19 kilometers with an associated strewn area of smaller meteorites extending farther by about 60 km. At least two of the craters contained thousands of small iron pieces. Such an unusual distribution suggests that a large body entered the Earth's atmosphere and broke into pieces which fell to the ground. The size of the main body is estimated as larger than 4 meters in diameter. The fragments contain an unusually high density of inclusions for an iron meteorite, which might have facilitated the disintegration of the original meteorite. Samples of charred wood were taken from beneath the meteorite fragments and analyzed for carbon-14 composition. The results indicate the date of the fall to be around 4,200–4,700 years ago, or 2,200–2,700 years BC.
The average composition of the Campo del Cielo meteorites is 6.67% Ni, 0.43% Co, 0.25% P, 87 ppm Ga, 407 ppm Ge, and 3.6 ppm Ir, with the rest being iron.
| Mass (tonnes) | Name | Year of discovery |
|---|---|---|
| >15 | el Meson de Fierro or Otumpa (missing) | 1576 |
| >0.8 | Runa Pocito or Otumpa | 1803 |
| 4.21 | el Toba | 1923 |
| 0.025 | el Hacha | 1924 |
| 0.732 | el Mocovi | 1925 |
| 0.85 | el Tonocote | 1931 |
| 0.46 | el Abipon | 1936 |
| 1 | el Mataco | 1937 |
| 2 | el Taco | 1962 |
| 1.53 | la Perdida | 1967 |
| 3.12 | Las Viboras | 1967 |
| 37 | el Chaco | 1969 (extracted in 1980) |
| >10 | Tañigó II (missing) | 1997 |
| 15 | la Sopresa | 2005 |
| 7.85 | el Wichí or Meteorito Santiagueño | 2006 |
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