DISCOVERED IN RUSSIA, 1967

Price Realised USD 17,500

Estimate

USD 13,000 - USD 19,000

Closed: 25 Nov 2014

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A Complete Slice of Seymchan Meteorite

DISCOVERED IN RUSSIA, 1967

Price Realised USD 17,500

Closed: 25 Nov 2014

Price Realised USD 17,500

Closed: 25 Nov 2014

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

A Complete Slice of Seymchan Meteorite
Discovered in Russia, 1967
This is a spectacular representation of a transitional, Seymchan meteorite. This complete slice was cut form a different mass that was part of the Seymchan event: a massive meteorite shower that occurred in the Magadan District of Siberia, the locality of Stalin’s infamous gulags. Specimens of Seymchan are fresh and the meteorite is resistant to oxidation
14¼ x 11in. (36 x 28.2cm.)
1.5kg.

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Lot Essay

Seymchan is an unusual and remarkable pallasite; large portions of the rock are olivine free. Pallasites are formed at the core-mantle boundary of an asteroid that experienced melting: molten metal from the core mixed with olivine crystals settling downwards from the mantle. This complete slice evidences massive olivine-rich areas with minor amounts of interstitial metal, some metal-rich regions with little olivine, and some regions that contain roughly comparable amounts of metal and olivine grains. This is characteristic of the heterogeneous appearance of the Seymchan pallasite. The olivine-rich regions provide a glimpse of the bottom of the mantle of the parent asteroid where olivine grains crystallized from the silicate melt and settled toward the core. The metal-rich regions represent a portion near the top of the iron-nickel core, beneath the olivine-rich layer at the bottom of the mantle.