The Nature Company - Nantan Meteorites from China 25-30 mm

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Nantan iron meteorites represent one of the rare witnessed iron meteorite falls in the world. The fall was recorded vividly -- During summertime in May of Jiajing 11th year, stars fell from the northwest direction, five to six fold long, waving like snakes and dragons. They were as bright as lightning and disappeared in seconds". Fell in Nantan (25 degrees 6' N, 107 degrees 42'E) in 1516, they were much later found by local farmers in 1958 when China needed a lot of steel to push the country "Great Leap Forward" advocated by Mao Zetung. They have coarse octahedral structure (Photo C & D on next page) and contain 92.35% iron & 6.96% nickel, belonging to IIICD classification of Wasson et al (1980)s. Most Nantan meteorites weight 150 ~ 1500 kg. Due to the humid condition, smaller pieces buried in soils of lower valleys have been extensively