30 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



mass is not known, hut thousands of fragments have been collected. 

 varying in weight from a fraction of an ounce up to 1,087 pounds. 

 More than 16 tons of this material are said to have been found within 

 the radius of 2\ miles of Coon Butte. Coon Butte is a conical hill rising 

 from 130 to 160 feet above the surrounding plain and containing a crater- 

 like hollow about three-quarters of a mile in greatest diameter and 

 probably 1,460 feet deep originally. 



There is no lava of any kind in Coon Butte or in its immediate vicinity, 

 and it is now supposed to be most probable that the "crater" was 

 caused by an immense meteorite striking the earth at this point. The 

 main portion of the mass has not yet been discovered, the fragments which 

 have thus far been found being only the portions separated from the 

 original mass during its passage through the atmosphere and at the time 

 of its impact with the earth. 



Two fragments of Canyon Diablo are in the Foyer collection, one of 

 which weighs 1,087 pounds and is the largest piece which has been dis- 

 covered. It was described and figured by Professor Huntington in the 

 Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, 

 for 1894. A slice of the meteorite in which a diamond was found is in 

 the general Museum collection and is figured on page 15. 



A polished and etched section shows strong Widmannstatten lines 

 which are comparatively broad and somewhat discontinuous. The 

 meteorite consists of 91.26 per cent iron and 8.25 per cent nickel and 

 cobalt, with small quantities of copper, platinum, indium, phosphorus, 

 sulphur, carbon and silicon. Nodules of troilite are abundant in some 

 parts of the masses. Through decomposition and erosion these 

 nodules have given rise to deep holes in the iron. 







'IT ('SON. 1 



Sid, rite. ) 



The Tucson meteorite, which is also known as the "Signet" or the 



1 This specimen is a reproduction in cast iron of the famous Tucson meteorite, 

 the original of which is in the National Museum at Washington. The model from 

 which this reproduction has been prepared was presented to the American .Museum 

 by the Smithsonian Institution. The original weighs 1,400 pounds, and this Cast 

 has the same weight. 



