Iron meteorites are perhaps the most spectacular samples of extraterrestrial materials, and may be the ones known to humanity for the longest time. Prehistoric humans used meteoritic iron as raw material for tools and artefacts. Some iron meteorites may have been venerated as sacred objects.
The abundance of iron meteorites in museum collections is not due to a high incidence of iron meteorite falls. Among the roughly 900 observed meteorite falls there are less than 50 irons. Most of the over 700 known iron meteorites owe their preservation to the fact that they weather more slowly and are more conspicuous to human collectors than other types of extraterrestrial rocks. A comprehensive overview of known iron meteorite samples has been given by Buchwald (1975).
Metallography and mineralogy
The major component of iron meteorites is nickel—iron (Fe, Ni), although practically all of them also contain various minor phases. The metal usually contains 5–15% Ni by weight, but samples with up to...
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Bibliography
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Kracher, A. (1997). Iron meteorites . In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4520-4_197
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4520-4_197
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