PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued |^2rva.-SE^i ^.V '"^ 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 99 Washington : 1949 No. 3242 



THE LINWOOD (NEBRASKA) METEORITE 



By E. P. Henderson and Stuaet H. Perry 



The meteorite here described was discovered in 1940 or 1941 on 

 the farm of Joseph W. Vrana, 1% miles south and I14 miles west of 

 Linwood, Butler County, Nebr., in section 3, township 16, range 4 

 (latitude 41°26' N., longitude 96°58' W.) . It was found buried about 

 7 or 8 inches beneath the surface of the soil while Mr. Vrana was 

 operating a disk harrow. 



The meteorite as received by Mr. Perry weighed 46,000 grams and 

 was presented to the United States National Museum intact except 

 for a 1- or 2-ounce fragment removed from one end. The dimensions 

 are approximately 12 by 11 by 5 inches. The surface is evenly cov- 

 ered with iron oxide, and there are no remaining structures of flight 

 markings or original crust. It is definitely not a recent fall. There 

 are many "thumb marks" of varying size on the surface but no unusual 

 features worthy of special note. 



The Linwood iron is a coarsest octahedrite with many silicate in- 

 clusions (pi. 21, fig. 1) . The octahedral pattern is irregular and quite 

 different from the coarse octahedrites of almost identical composition. 

 The kamacite bands are mostly short and vary in wadth from 2 to 4 

 nun. or a little more, but in some places polyhedral masses nearly 

 half an inch across are found. The kamacite shows abundant Neu- 

 mann lines. The individual kamacite areas are not granulated as 

 they would be if there had been reheating followed by quick cooling, 

 yet the general structure of the octahedral pattern gives the impres- 



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