Argentina Meteorite Stamp
Name: Campo del Cielo Meteorites
Issue date: 2007 July 28th
Campo del Cielo is located in Argentina , in the area called “Gran Chaco”, to the southwest of the Province of Chaco , and the southeast of Santiago del Estero . The area is strewn with iron and nickel fragments originated by the collision of a large meteorite that hit the Earth's surface.
A high concentration of large metal meteorites may be found here, as well as a remarkably perfect alignment of craters, forming an axis that extends along N 60°E. This meteorite field is one of the longest found on the Earth's surface. Some craters from pairs; in general, they are ellipsis-shaped (with the longest axis extending along a northeast-southwest direction) or circular. Thirty craters have been recorded approximately, but given the density of the forest, more craters could be found in the future. The largest crater is the one named after Rubin Celis, with a depth of 5.5 metres; the best-known fragments are the one that has been called Meson de Fierro (missing to this date), weighing approximately 20 tons, and El Chaco, 37 tons.
Back in the 16th Century, there were early oral accounts of a large ore vein that surfaced in the Pampa de Otumpa, which attracted numerous expeditions to that place. Years later, one of these established in the sixties – applying carbon 14 dating to charred fragments supposedly originated by the impact – that the original crater must be 4,000 years old.
$15
