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Missouri Meteorites

Twenty-two meteorites have been found in Missouri.  The first, Little Piney, was a fall from 1839; the most recent, Milton, was found in 2000.  Eight have been iron meteorites, eleven stony meteorites, and two (Milton and Mincy) a stony-irons.  Seven are falls - they were found shortly after they fell.  The other 14, including all the irons, are finds - they fell at an unknown time and were found later.  The Warrenton meteorite is an unusual type, a CO chondrite, and Milton is a unique pallasite.  The following information was taken mainly from the Catalogue of Meteorites (2000) edited by Monica Grady and published by The Natural History Museum of London and the Meteoritical Bulletin Database of the Meteoritical Society.

Meteorites are named after the place that they fell or are found.  Most of the meteorite names below correspond to small towns in Missouri.

Map: red = stone, blue = iron, green = stony-iron

If you've got Google Earth, try this.

 
meteorite
name		 mass
(kg)		 fall or
find		 type class group fall or find
location		 year anecdote
Archie 5.1 fall stone ordinary chondrite H6 Cass Co. 1932 Seven stones were found. One narrowly missed a man's head. A shower of minute fragments over an area six miles long was reported but none of this material was preserved.
Baxter 0.611 fall stone ordinary chondrite L6 Stone Co. 1916 One stone. Fell through the roof of a house.
Billings 24.5 find iron medium octahedrite IIIAB Christian Co. 1903 A mass of about 54 lb resembling an axe was found about 4 miles east of Billings.
Butler 40 find iron plessitic octahedrite ungrouped Bates Co. 1874 A mass of about 90 lb was plowed up 8 miles SW of Butler.
Cape Girardeau 2.3 fall stone ordinary chondrite H6 Cape Girardeau Co. 1846 Fell with a loud report 7.5 miles south of Cape Girardeau.
DeKalb 0.575 find stone ordinary chondrite H? Buchanan Co. 1969 One stone, found after plowing. Although the discovery site is only 3 miles west of the known area of the Faucett meteorites, it is thought to represent a distinct fall.
Faucett 100 find stone ordinary chondrite H4 Buchanan Co. 1966 Following the discovery of the first 12 lb stone in 1966, at least seven others have been found, totaling over 100 kg in weight. They are internally fresh and may have fallen in the summer of 1907. photo
Harrisonville 12.9 find stone ordinary chondrite L6 Cass Co. 1933 14 stones. photo
Independence 0.88 fall stone ordinary chondrite L6 Jackson Co. 1917 or 1918 Observer heard a hissing/buzzing sound, and then observed a dark object falling to the ground on the side of a dirt road.
Jenkins 55.4 find iron coarse octahedrite IAB Barry Co. 1946 One mass was found 8 km northwest of Jenkins.
Kansas City (1903) 36 find stone ordinary chondrite H5 Kansas City 1903 A much oxidized stone was found in Kansas City, some 6 feet below the surface.
Lanton 13.78 find iron medium octahedrite IIIAB Howell Co. 1932 Four rusted fragments were found.
Little Piney 22.7 fall stone ordinary chondrite L5 Pulaski Co. 1839 After the appearance of a fireball, followed by detonations, a stone of about 50 lb, which had struck an oak tree, was found 2 miles from Pine Bluff and 10 miles from Little Piney.
Milton 2.04 find stony-iron pallasite unique Atchison Co. 2000 A single mass was found in a bean field. abstract
Mincy 89.3 find stony-iron mesosiderite MES Taney Co. 1857 A mass of about 197 lb is stated to have fallen in 1857, 11 miles SE of Forsyth, whence it was taken to a farm in Newton County, Arkansas.
Palmyra 0.135 fall stone ordinary chondrite L3 Marion Co. 1926 A single specimen of unrecorded weight is reported to have fallen two miles E of Palmyra. Only 135 g now known.
Perryville 17.5 find iron plessitic octahedrite IIC Perry Co. 1906 A mass of 17.5 kg was found.
St. Francois County 2.8 find iron coarse octahedrite IC St. Francois Co. 1863 A specimen weighing about 0.5 lb was found in 1863 by B.F. Shumard in the museum of the St. Louis Acad. of Sci. labeled 'S.E. Missouri' , C.U. Shepard (1869). Later a mass of over 2.5 kg was found and became known as St. Francois County.
St. Genevieve County 244.4 find iron medium octahedrite IIIF St. Genevieve Co. 1888 A mass of 539 lb was found in the extreme western portion of St. Genevieve County.
St. Louis 1 fall stone ordinary chondrite H4 "St. Louis Co."
may have been city		 1950 A mass of 1 kg hit a car on West Florissant Ave. in St. Louis.
Seymour 25.8 find iron coarse octahedrite IIICD Webster Co. 1940 A mass of 57lb was found 6 miles NNW of Seymour (and SE of Marshfield).
Warrenton 45.5 fall stone carbonaceous chondrite CO3 Warren Co. 1877 With a whistling noise a stone of about 100 lb was seen to strike a tree and break into pieces.

The following objects are listed in the Catalogue because they have been mentioned in the literature, but they are probably not real meteorites.
Fair Play 91 find       Polk Co. 1928 This supposed mesosiderite has been shown to be white cast iron.
Kansas City (1876) ?? fall stone     Kansas City 1876 Doubtful. A small fragment, 1.75 inches in diameter by 0.33 inches thick, is said to have fallen on and partially pierced a tin roof.
www.catchafallingstar.com
 www.catchafallingstar.com

Prepared by: Randy L. Korotev
  
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Washington University in St. Louis
  
Please don’t contact me about the meteorite
you think you've found until you read this and this.

e-mail: korotev@wustl.edu

Last revised:  11-Apr-2008
  

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