Cape York meteorite

The Cape York meteorite, also known as the Innaanganeq meteorite, is one of the largest known iron meteorites, classified as a medium octahedrite in chemical group IIIAB. In addition to many small fragments, at least eight large fragments with a total mass of 58 tonnes (128,000 lb) have been recovered, the largest weighing 31 tonnes (68,000 lb). The meteorite was named after Cape York, a prominent geographic feature located approximately 48 kilometres (30 mi) west of the east coast of Meteorite Island and the nearby peninsulas in northern Melville Bay, Greenland, where the first meteorite fragments were discovered.

The date of the meteorite fall is debated, but was likely within the last few thousand years. A museum placard accompanying the Agpalilik fragment at the Natural History Museum of Denmark states it fell approximately 58 million years ago. This figure is inconsistent with the archaeological/historical estimate that the fall occurred within the last 1,000–10,000 years, and does not match published terrestrial-age estimates of 1–2 million years. The 58-million-year figure is roughly the same order of magnitude as Cape York's cosmic-ray exposure age of 93 ± 16 million years, suggesting the signage may conflate time spent in space as a meteoroid with time spent on Earth since the fall.

It was known to the Inughuit (the local Inuit) for centuries, who used it as a source of meteoritic iron for tools.

History

Presumably the meteorite fell to Earth a few thousand years ago. Some estimates have put the date of the fall as 10,000 years ago.

All fragments recovered were found at the surface, partly buried, some on unstable terrain.