Toluca is a group of
iron meteorite
Iron meteorites, also called siderites or ferrous meteorites, are a type of meteorite that consist overwhelmingly of an iron–nickel alloy known as meteoric iron that usually consists of two mineral phases: kamacite and taenite. Most iron me ...
s found in
Jiquipilco, Mexico near
Toluca
Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...
.
History
The meteorites probably crashed into
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
more than 10,000 years ago.
For centuries, Mexican people living near the meteorites used them as a source of metal for various tools. They were first described by
conquistador
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...
es in about 1776.
The
total known mass
Total known weight (TKW), also total known mass,The British and Irish Meteorite SocietyGlossary/ref> is a term used mainly by dealers and meteorite collectors to indicate the combined weight of all known pieces from a single named meteorite. The to ...
is about 3
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...
s.
Composition and classification
These iron meteorites are a coarse
octahedrite
Octahedrites are the most common Iron meteorite#Structural classification, structural class of iron meteorites. The structures occur because the meteoric iron has a certain nickel concentration that leads to the exsolution of kamacite out of tae ...
, chemical type
IAB-sLL.
The mean composition is 90.5%
Fe and 8.1%
Ni.
They often contain large
troilite
Troilite () is a rare iron sulfide mineral with the simple formula of FeS. It is the iron-rich endmember of the pyrrhotite group. Pyrrhotite has the formula Fe(1−x)S (x = 0 to 0.2) which is iron deficient. As troilite lacks the iron deficiency ...
inclusions.
See also
*
Glossary of meteoritics
This is a glossary of terms used in meteoritics, the science of meteorites.
#
* 2 Pallas – an asteroid from the asteroid belt and one of the likely parent bodies of the CR meteorites.
* 4 Vesta – second-largest asteroid in the asteroid bel ...
References
{{Meteorites
Meteorites found in Mexico
Toluca
History of the State of Mexico
Natural history of the State of Mexico