They keep a meteorite of 100 kilos at home for 30 years without knowing

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They believed that it was only military scrap and not a piece of important scientific value| Even used for pressing hams.


A family of Ciudad Real has kept in his house for more than three decades a metallic meteorite 100 kilos which found in 1980 by the National Park Cabañeros war thinking it was junk, as confirmed by the CSIC and now Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME).

The meteorite, small size (45x31x20 cm), was found in 1980 in a labor camp and grazing near the Bullaque Retuerta (Ciudad Real), by Faustino Asensio, when he was with his father tending livestock.

For over 30 years, the family has retained Asensio Lopez at home this piece of important scientific value thinking it was only military scrap. In fact, used their weight important for pressing hams, according to Efe reported Faustino Asensio.

Following the discovery of other known meteorites from around the world, made contact with the geologist Juan Carlos Gutierrez Marco, the Geosciences Institute of CSIC (IGEO), who directs the study of geological and paleontological Cabañeros National Park.

Marco Gutierrez explained to Efe that the external morphology of the piece and its high density made ​​him think that it could be a meteorite , a fact that was later confirmed with the first analysis. The studies found that it was a real siderito (metallic meteorite), the fourth of its kind to appear in Spain, after documented Quesa (Valencia, 1898), Colomera (Granada, 1912) and La Almunia (Zaragoza, 1950) .

The mineralogical and geochemical study of the issue, recently completed by researchers at the IGME Rafael Lozano and Jesus Reyes, allowed to classify the meteorite as a thick octaedrita main resort group sideritos IAB.

In one of the cuts made ​​to the exemplary Efe explained Rafael Lozano, “are distinguished iron alloys and nickel complex (taenita-kamacita) over both metal carbide (cohenita), all crystallized at elevated temperature and pressure, forming the typical geometric framework calls Widmanstätten figures “.

Lozano has said the meteorite also contains “other rare minerals, as Troilite (iron sulfide nodules) and schreibersite (iron nickel phosphide)”. According to the geological context of the place of discovery (a former torrential fan), the experts conclude that the meteorite dates back to prehistoric times (middle Pleistocene or higher), probably before that would conform the actual river network.

Juan Carlos Gutierrez Marco said that “the object remained buried and thus survived the times of greater thirst for metals among civilizations documented in the area, until relatively recently, when his exhumation was favored by the continuous tillage fields “.

Despite showing irregular external oxidation, the remains of the meteorite fusion crust generated during entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, and numerous surface voids (regmaglifos) due to friction with the air.

Meteorites are usually attributed to metal fragments planetoids core progenitors located in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The beginning of the trip to Tierra could be due to the collision of a celestial body such as a comet, with the protoplanet, said Rafael Lozano.

The first results of the research on the meteorite are being published in the journal Geological Survey, although the International Society for Meteoritics and Planetary Science meteorite has been allocated to the official name of the Bullaque Retuerta, depending on their location of discovery .

This company has classified the meteorite as the confirmed number 29 for Spain, the fourth siderito found in country and global registration number 84 for its category.

The fragment broken off for the scientific study of the main mass, is on display from today at the Mining Museum in Madrid, along with a replica of the original, made by the specialist Eleuterio Baeza (IGME). So far, in Spanish museums were preserved only remnants of sideritos Colomera (Granada) and Quesada (Valencia). 



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