Only a few meteorites make their passage through the atmosphere in one piece. Most of them are fragmented on their way due to the high pressure to which they are subjected. Sometimes they may burst into only a few fragments, at other times, into thousands of individual pieces creating a meteorite shower. Only a few pieces from such a shower actually arrive on Earth since the smaller fragments usually burn up during their passage. However, sometimes, when the initial pieces are big enough, it literally 'rains stones,' and thousands of meteorites can be collected from huge strewn fields.

 

Historic meteorite showers
meteorite	country	fell	total weight (kg)	individuals
Pultusk	Poland	1868	200	180,000
Holbrook	USA	1912	220	16,000
Sikhote-Alin	Russia	1947	70,000	15,000
Allende	Mexico	1969	2,000	5,000
L'Aigle	France	1803	37	3,000
Mocs	Romania	1882	300	3,000

 

Prominent prehistoric strewn fields
meteorite	country	found	total mass (kg)	individuals
Campo del Cielo	Argentina	1576	70,000	thousands
Gibeon	Namibia	1836	26,000	thousands
Toluca	Mexico	1776	2,500	thousands
Brenham	USA	1882	2,400	thousands
Imilac	Chile	1822	1,000	> 1,000
Plainview	USA	1917	700	> 1,000