Meteorites, Magadan region, Russia
Seymchan pallasite
Seymchan Pallasite
Metal and stone fused where a protoplanet's core came to an end.
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- Epoch
- Before life began
- Age
- ≈ 4.56 billion years
- Origin
- Magadan Oblast, Russia
- Size
- 28 × 31 cm
- Classification
- Stony-iron meteorite (Seymchan pallasite)
- Ref.
- R–0284
Olivine and iron rarely mingle so intimately — according to the classical model, at the core–mantle boundary of a protoplanet, where molten metal penetrated the rock. This large slice of Seymchan reveals that layer in full.
Pallasites are the rarest class of meteorites. According to the classical model, they were born at the boundary between the iron core and the rocky mantle of a shattered protoplanet: molten nickel-iron seeped through crystals of olivine and set together with them. This is possible only where metal and stone meet under immense pressure.
Seymchan was found in 1967 in the north of the Magadan region, and has since been counted among the most beautiful meteorites of Russia. The slice shows what no workshop could make: a metallic lattice with the Widmanstätten lines of cosmic crystallisation, set with transparent grains of olivine that kindle to amber against the light. The age of the material is about 4.56 billion years: it is older than the Earth.
As found
Before the cut it is a heavy mass of iron in the moss of the Magadan taiga: a weathering crust, hollows, no lustre at all.