Pena Blanca Spring meteorite, Gage Ranch, Marathon, Brewster County, Texas, USAi

Regional Level Types
Pena Blanca Spring meteorite	Meteorite Fall Location
Gage Ranch	Ranch
Marathon	City
Brewster County	County
Texas	State
USA	Country

A meteorite which fell on August 2, 1946, into a swimming pool/pond at the Gage Ranch near Marathon. 24 witnesses were within a few hundred feet of the fall and 1 person saw the meteorite in flight. Many interesting incidents were accurately reported.

Approximately 70 kg (155 lbs) of the meteorite were recovered, consisting of one fragment of 47 kg (104 lbs), one fragment of 13 kg (29 lbs), and many smaller pieces down to mere grains. Reconstruction of the shape indicate that all but a few pounds of the stone have been recovered.

The meteorite is a white aubrite with a cream-colored crust and remarkably coarse cataclastic-porphyritic texture. One phenocryst of pyroxene is 10X6X8 cm.; another, 6X3X1.5 cm.; and a number are larger than 3X3X3 cm.

As far as known, man has never constructed a device in which to trap a meteorite falling to the earth. Had he done so, possibly he could not have improved upon the swimming pool at the headquarters of the Gage ranch about 9.5 miles southeast of Marathon in Brewster County, Texas. This swimming pool received the Pena Blanca Spring meteorite with a violent splash at about 1:20 p.m. on August 2, 1946. The meteorite is named from the spring which forms the swimming pool and which is an historic landmark in the region.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References