IRON METEORITE — IC NORTH YILGARN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA (29°27' S, 119°43' E)

A COMPLETE SLICE OF EXOTIC AUSTRALIAN IRON METEORITE WITH ABSTRACT MATRIX — MOUNT DOOLING

In a remote, largely inaccessible region in the southwest corner of Australia about 250 miles from Perth, the Mount Dooling meteorite was first discovered in 1909 by the gold prospector, A.P. Brophy. In this select example, large metallic grains appear interwoven in a complex array specific to the IC chemical group. The smallest group of iron meteorites, the IC group contains only eight members. Because different iron meteorites have different compositions and cooled at different rates, they frequently exhibit distinctly different patterns—any of which is diagnostic in the identification of an iron meteorite. The latticework in evidence is indicative of a slow cooling rate that provided sufficient time—millions of years—for the meteorite’s molecules to organize into their crystalline habit. The small amount of nickel in Mount Dooling (about 6%) results in the coarse, more abstract pattern seen here than in a Gibeon meteorite (see lot 9). At some point, after solidifying, Mount Dooling experienced a high-energy impact in interplanetary space; the iron sulfide nodules were melted and the kamacite grains developed shock-produced twin lamellae known as Neumann bands.

Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalogue note.