El Sampal

 

Specimen weight: 2,218 grams

This specimen is from the Arizona State University Center for Meteorite Studies Collection, Specimen #1014.4.  I recently acquired this piece in a large exchange I completed with the museum. I had the entire piece refinished, so it now weighs less than the original 2,279.7 grams listed on the label.

This beautiful iron was found in Mueva Labuka, Chubut, Argentina in 1973. A mass of 142 kilograms was found partially buried in the ground 20 km east of the town of Nueva Labuka. The El Sampal meteorite is an iron, Medium octahedrite (IIIAB).

 

 This piece measures 308 mm by 195 mm by 9 mm. The etch on El Sampal is one of my favorites, a very sharp, well-formed pattern similar to Carbo.

 
 
Note the triolite nodule on the lower right side, it was on the surface and yet did not weather away, showing that this iron can not have laid on the Earth's surface for very long
.

This photo shows a close-up of the El Sampal etch pattern. It is fantastic.
Original ASU  label for this specimen.
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