Oakley (iron) meteorite, Cassia County, Idaho, USAi

Regional Level Types
Oakley (iron) meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Cassia County	County
Idaho	State
USA	Country

Iron meteorite, Octahedrite (IIIF, Og)
Find, 1926; 111 kg


Two youngsters found a triangular and oriented domed shield-shaped metallic mass (~58 x 47 x 10 cm) lying on the surface of the ground. The oriented mass was partly covered with soil so that the crown was projected above the ground and remained covered with ablation regmaglypts of a thick and largely intact fusion crust, but the remaining part of the top side has been covered with thick limonitic crust due to terrestrial weathering. The concave underside — covered with large,shallow bowl-shaped regmaglypts — also retains much of the original fusion crust. The interior of the iron meteorite (~ 7.3% Ni) is dominated by kamacite, but taenite and plessite constitute ~15 vol% of the meteorite. Minor amounts of schreibersite, troilite, and very minor daubréelite are also reported — as in several other IIIF octahedrites. Neumann bands in kamacite, brecciated schreibersite, and twinned troilite are indicative of significant stress and shock, presumably due to preterrestrial collisions.

The Oakley (iron) is the second most massive of the small group of IIIF irons ( 9 members). Almost all of the meteorite mass is held at the United States National Museum in Washington.

It is customary — and often necessary — to use the meteorite's proper name, the 'Oakley (iron)' meteorite, in order to distinguish it from the 'Oakley (stone)' meteorite, an ordinary chondrite found in Kansas, USA in 1895.

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References