stony meteorite
A meteorite composed of mostly silicate minerals (75-90% by weight), together with nickel-iron metal alloy (10-25%), and iron sulfide. Stony meteorites are a very varied group, ranging from virtually unaltered samples of matter that date back to the dawn of the Solar System, some 4.55 billion years ago, to rocks with a complex history that have come from large differentiated worlds, such as the Moon or Mars.
Stony meteorites account for 95% of all known falls. The majority (86% of all falls) are chondrites, the rest are achondrites.
| Largest known stony meteorites |
| meteorite |
country |
fell |
class |
group |
mass (kg) |
| Jilin |
China |
1976 |
chondrite |
H5 |
1,770 |
| Norton County |
USA |
1984 |
achondrite |
aubrite |
1,073 |
| Long Island |
USA |
1948 |
chondrite |
L6 |
564 (broken) |
| Paragould |
USA |
1930 |
chondrite |
LL5 |
371 |
| Bjurbole |
Finland |
1899 |
chondrite |
L/LL4 |
334 (broken) |
Related category
METEORS AND METEORITES
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