Aletai Meteorite Cube

A MASSIVE IRON SCULPTURE FROM ONE OF THE LARGEST KNOWN STREWN FIELDS

This lot features a shimmering metallic cube extracted from the core of the famous Aletai meteorite, discovered in China's far northwestern province of Xinjiang. This cube allows a three-dimensional view of the meteorite's internal crystalline matrix, formed from interweaving bands of two iron-nickel alloys, taenite and kamacite — the latter of which is unique to meteorite specimens and found nowhere else on Earth.

Aletai is a member of one of the smallest subgroups of iron meteorites in the scientific literature, with only 16 IIIE meteorites on record. And of these 16, Aletai is one of only two that have anomalous chemical abundances, containing the highest concentration of gold in the IIIE group.

Aletai also contains a relatively large amount of iridium, the second densest element in existence. Because the amount of iridium found in meteorites is often much higher than that found in the Earth's crust, it was the unusually large amount iridium present at the 65 million-year-old Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary that led scientists to believe that a massive meteorite impact was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other life forms 65 million years ago.

The entire mass of Aletai is close to 100 tons, and a 28-ton Aletai specimen is the 5^th largest single meteorite found on Earth. The strewn field was so vast — 430 km (267 miles) in length — that for some time different specimens from this meteorite were given different names (Armanty, Xinjiang, and Ulasitai). As it has now been determined that each of these meteorites originated from the same event, they have all been renamed Aletai.

REFERENCES:

Meteoritical Bulletin Entry for Aletai