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Tlacotepec
Chip Clark
Specimen | Catalog Number | Locality | Weight |
---|---|---|---|
Tlacotepec | USNM 872-1 | Mexico | 2067.00 g |
These iron meteorites are all that's left of the cores of large asteroids shattered by collisions billions of years ago.
The cores formed when the interiors of large asteroids melted and heavy metals such as iron and nickel sank. Carbon and phosphorus that were dissolved in the metal, and iron sulfides, also sank. The diverse chemistry of meteoritic fragments from these cores tells us how many asteroids are represented more than 60. Their crystalline structure hints at the asteroid sizes.