Cranbrook Institute of Science Acquires New Meteorite

The Institute’s latest meteorite acquisition comes from a pristine rayed impact crater developed in Cretaceous sandstone bedrock in the remote East Uweinat Desert of Egypt, near the border with Sudan. The specimen, an iron meteorite (ungrouped nickel-rich ataxite), is a shrapnel piece derived from a 1.3 meter wide impactor, that likely struck around 4,000 years ago.

Folco et al. 2010, The Kamil Crater in Egypt, Science, 13 August, Vol. 329, p 810.