83. Bruderheim Meteorite (1960)

Bruderheim Meteorite

On March 4, 1960, at 1:06 a.m. local time, Canada's largest recovered meteorite fell near Bruderheim, Alberta. Almost 700 fragments were collected, and they weighed a whopping 303 kilograms. The bright flash of the meteor upon entering Earth's atmosphere was visible for hundreds of kilometres, and the sound shock wave of its explosion was audible over some 5000 square kilometres. It is one of 16 recovered meteorites in Alberta.

The Bruderheim meteorite is a chondrite or stony meteorite that probably formed about 4.6 billion years ago during the birth of our solar system. It is composed of the minerals olivine and orthopyroxene, with minor amounts of metallic nickel-iron.

The Bruderheim meteorite is part of the Geological Survey of Canada's National Meteorite Collection, which has a distinguished history. The collection began in 1855 following Survey founder William Logan's acquisition of an iron meteorite found near Madoc, Ontario, in 1854. The National Meteorite Collection now has samples from about 1100 different meteorites.

Category: Rocks, Fossils, Minerals and Meteorites

Decade: 1960s

References

Bruderheim - Home of the Bruderheim Meteorite. https://www.bruderheim.ca/home-of-the-bruderheim-meteorite

Follinsbee, R.A. and Bayrock, L.A., 1961. The Bruderheim Meteorite - Fall and Recovery; Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, v. 55, no. 5, p. 218-228.

GSC 175 - CGC 175