22 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I48 



shipment. Also, the coordinates of the Chilean hexahedrites may be 

 less accurately recorded than those of the American meteorites. 



Thirteen hexahedrites are known from between latitudes 20° and 

 24° S., while twelve octahedrites were recovered between approxi- 

 mately the same northernmost latitude and 27° S. This is an unusually 

 high proportion of hexahedrites to octahedrites. No hexahedrites are 

 reported south of latitude 24° S., whereas four octahedrites were 

 found there, one of which comes from a point as far south as 33° 30' S. 

 No search has been made for meteorites in the area south of latitude 

 27°. 



Table 7. — Data on hexahedrites from Chile arranged by latitude. 



Weight, 

 Name kilograms Latitude Longitude 



La Primitive (Angela)i 21.5 19°55' S. 69°49' W. 



Negrillos 28.5 20°12' S. 70°10'W. 



Rio Loa 4.0 2r26' S. 70°5' W. 



Quillagua 78.0 2r36' S. 69°32' W. 



San Martin 29.0 22°20' S. 69°45'W. 



Coya Norte 17.0 22°20' S. 69°40'W. 



Union 22.0 22°30' S. 69°30' W. 



Tocopilla 75.0 22°40'S. 69°50'W. 



Sierra Gorda 22.0 22°54' S. 69°21' W. 



Filomena 20.7 23°0' S. 69°24' W. 



Mejillones (1875) (large) 23°7' S. 70°29' W. 



Mejillones (1905) 14.5 23°7' S. 70°29' W. 



Puripica 19.0 23°41' S. 70°15'W. 



1 Synonym. 



Northern Chile is an arid region, while to the south the land is more 

 suitable for agriculture. In northern Chile, owing to the extensive 

 niter mining, more of the land surface has been scraped and sorted 

 than elsewhere. Thus, large, heavy objects, such as iron meteorites, 

 have a good chance of being recovered. 



A comparison of statistics on meteorites from two widely separated 

 geographic areas may be criticized because climate, topography, 

 population density, and the uses made of the land have a bearing on 

 the recovery of meteorites. Nevertheless, an area in the United 

 States — Georgia and South Carolina — where a noticeable concentra- 

 tion of hexahedrites occurs, has been compared to northern Chile in 

 table 8. 



Georgia and South Carolina together make an area about 1.5 times 

 that of northern Chile, yet more than 3 times as many hexahedrites 

 are reported from Chile as from the larger area in the United States. 



