Meteorite finds in Utah.
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by William F. Case, and
REVISED by Robert S. Verish (2005)
Utah Meteorites
Seventeen Utah meteorites (1 fall and 16 finds) are officially recorded in London’s Natural History Museum Catalogue of Meteorites. Based on this "Catalogue" published in 2000, meteorite numbers in neighboring states range from 69 in Colorado to 12 in Nevada, and from 35 in Arizona to 12 in Wyoming. Unfortunately, it is most likely that there are meteorite finds made in Utah that are still going unreported. It is a given that there are meteorite falls occuring in Utah that are going "unwitnessed".
Utah’s meteorites are of the stony and iron variety.
Stony meteorites are the most diverse group of meteorites. The chondritic stony meteorites come from a parent body of primordial material that, unlike the Earth, did not differentiate into layers such as a core, mantle, and crust. Their ages range from billions of years to 170 million years.
The achondritic stony meteorites come from the crust of differentiated parent bodies.
Iron meteorites are the most familiar meteorites. They are heavy because they are mainly iron-nickel alloy, they do not [sic] weather very fast(?), they do not easily fragment when they fall, and they are magnetic. Iron meteorites come from the core of differentiated bodies. Six iron meteorites have been found in Utah. The Drum Mountains iron is the eighth heaviest (529 kg, 1164 lbs) iron meteorite in the U.S., and was found near Delta, Utah.
Utah Meteorites (data from Hey, 1966; Grady, 2000; MB#85 Grossman, 2001; MB#88 Russell, 2004)
| Name |
Type |
Date |
Weight,
kg |
Weight,
Lbs
(calculated) |
Comments |
| Salt Lake City |
Stone |
1869 |
0.88 |
1.96 |
Found between Salt Lake City & Echo |
| Salina |
Iron |
1908 |
0.24 |
0.59 |
Weathered mass & balls with metallic core, found in Pavant
Mountains |
| Ioka |
Stone |
1931 |
0.3 |
0.66 |
Weathered stone exposed by plow |
| Altonah |
Iron |
1932 |
22 |
48.4 |
Found 0.6km (0.4mi) SE of Moon Lake outlet |
| Park City (exact location unknown) |
Iron |
Found ~1934 |
12.248> |
27 |
Summit County, Utah, USA hexahedrite (IIAB)
An iron meteorite was acquired by William Cole prior to 1935. Over 50 years later, his wife remembered that he got it while working at the Silver King Mine near Park City, although it is not known whether he actually found it himself. |
| Drum Mountains |
Iron |
1944 |
529 |
1164 |
Eighth heaviest in U.S., found on basalt |
| Garland (fall) |
Stone (DIO) |
1950 |
0.1 |
0.22 |
Seen falling, summer, 11AM; 1 stone recovered |
| Duchesne |
Iron |
1961 |
23 |
50.6 |
Found 47km (31mi) NW of Duchesne on Mount Tabby |
| Canyonlands |
Stone |
1961 |
1.52 |
3.34 |
Partly encrusted stone found near confluence of Green &
Colorado Rivers |
| Moab |
Iron |
pre-1962 |
19.5 |
42.9 |
Recorded in the 1966 Catalogue of Meteorites, but appears in the 2000 Catalogue as a transported Canyon Diablo. |
| Poison Spring |
Iron |
1971 |
0.5 |
1.1 |
|
| Beaver-Harrison |
Stone |
1979 |
0.93 |
2.1 |
Found on alluvial fan near mine, Beaver Lake Mountains |
| Gunlock |
Stone |
1982 |
6.8 |
14.96 |
Two pieces that fit together were found 0.05km (0.03mi) apart
on the south slope of Padre Hill |
| Sunstone Knoll |
Stone |
1985 |
0.16 |
0.35 |
Single mass found on west shore of Little Salt Lake |
| Wah Wah Valley |
Stone |
1986 |
0.009 |
0.02 |
Mass found on dry lake bed; NW corner of Wah Wah Valley hardpan |
| Cricket Mountains |
Stone (H6) |
1988 May 22 |
10.6grams |
-- |
A single mass was found 19 miles N of Black Rock during a search on a dry lake bed. |
| Tule Valley |
L6, S4, W3 |
2001, March 03 |
17.69 grams |
-- |
A single mass was found by Daniel Morris and his son while they were driving on a dry lake searching for meteorites near Millard UT - 38º59’55" N 113º22’54" W |
| Arches |
L5, S1, W4 |
2001, Sept. 08 |
534 grams |
1.2 |
A single mass was found by Lee Furguson on sandstone bedrock near Grant UT - 38º41.32' N, 104º35.11' W |
Impact
(meteorite) craters in Utah and nearby states.
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Meteorite Craters
The Geological Survey of Canada Impact Database lists four meteorite
craters in Utah and nearby states. They are
- the controversial (most think it is a salt dome) Upheaval Dome
in Canyonlands National Park, Utah,
- Beaverhead Crater, Montana,
- Barringer Crater (Canyon Diablo, Meteor Crater), Arizona, and
- Cloud Creek Crater, Wyoming (known only from drilling records).
References
Additional information on meteorites can be found in the following
references, which provided the data summarized in this article:
Drum
Mountains meteorite before it was moved and sliced for analyses.
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Geological Survey of Canada, June 9, 2003, Earth Impact Database:
Online, <www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase>,
accessed January 27, 2004
Grady, M.M., 2000, Catalogue of Meteorites, 5th Edition: National
History Museum, London, 690 p.
Henderson, E.P. and Perry, S.H., 1948, Smithsonian Miscellaneous
Collections, v.110, no. 12, 7 p., 5 pl.
Hey, M.H., 1966, Catalogue of Meteorites, 3rd Edition: National
History Museum, London, 637 p.
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