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WELCOME TO GARY FOOTE'S METEORITE INFORMATION WEBSITE
Campo del Cielo 395.6g "The Snake"
[Item #S25]
The first find of Campo del Cielo was in 1576 in Campo del Cielo Argentina. Pieces of this meteorite are still being discovered today. It is a polycrystalline coarse octahedrite with many nice large regmaglypts [thumbprints] and a slightly rusty black fusion crust.
It's chemical makeup is below;
- Kamacite--an iron nickel alloy which makes up about 90 percent of specimens in finger size and width crystals. Neumann bands are common.
- Taenite and plessite, the other iron-nickel alloy constituents are found at grain boundaries.
- Troilite is found aggregates with graphite and silicates.
- Schreibersite is uncommon.
When I first got this piece it was shiny black all over. It soon began to scale off in thin pieces and so I undertook a preservation effort. I first soaked it in a rust remover for 24 hours. Then, while in a bath of distilled water I brushed it with a brass brush. To my dismay almost the whole surface came off in scales showing the rust beneath. I oven dried the piece at 200 degrees for two hours and returned it to the rust remover bath for a second 24 hours. Then I again used a brass brush to remove as much of the rust as possible. Then I bathed it in distilled water, brushing again to remove all tracews of rust remover. Then I bathed it in 96% alcohol again for 24 hours and oven-baked at 200 degrees for two hours. The final finish was with vaseline and it has been stable since.
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