On the Trail of the Great Canadian Meteorites
Other Collections
Natural History Museum of Vienna
The oldest, and one of the largest collections of meteorites in the world is housed in Vienna. Several Canadian meteorite specimens were spotted by my brother, Paul, on a trip to Vienna on Sept 30 2023. Used with permission of the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien.
Beaver Creek was an early witnessed Canadian fall in 1893. Two large stones (12kg and 2.3kg) were recovered. The main stone was found in a deep angled hole.
Beaver Creek
Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
Thurlow
This iron meteorite was found in Ontario in1888.
Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
University of New Mexico - Albuquerque
On a tour of the UNM Institute of Meteoritics, I spotted several nice Canadian meteorites. Belly River is part of a 7.9 kg H6 chondrite found in Alberta in 1943.
Belly River
Springwater
Bruderheim
Used with permission UNM Institute of Meteoritics
UCLA Meteorite Collection
On a visit to UCLA Oct 18 2024, I spotted several Canadian meteorites. This main mass of Kinsella was found in Alberta in1946 while ploughing.
Photos by Dave Kenny, used with permission from the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA). Thanks to Dr. Alan Rubin.
Ocean Falls
British Columbia, Canada.
The Ocean Falls meteorite was discovered in the 1960’s in BC and has just recently been classified in Sept 2024. It is an iron IAB meteorite weighing 19.23kg. Only one of 5 meteorites ever discovered in British Columbia, and the only iron. Currently privately owned.
Photo by Dave Kenny Dec 09 2024. Thanks to Lunds Auctioneers in Victoria, BC for permission to use this photo.
Vulcan, Alberta
The town of Vulcan, Alberta was named after the Roman God of Fire.
In April 1962, Warren Budd found an unusual 19 kg rock on his family farm about 12 km northeast of Vulcan. It was determined to be a chondrite from the asteroid belt. It had a relatively fresh fusion crust, indicating it had landed fairly recently on the earth Various pieces went to institutions in Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, London and Los Angeles as well as other collections.
The town of Vulcan also celebrates it’s connection with the legendary planet Vulcan* and has an amazing Tourist Info Centre. It has been visited by many of the Star Trek actors, and hosts an annual VulCON convention dedicated to Trekkies.
This cast replica of a one-third portion of the meteorite is displayed at the “Vulcan Tourism and Trek Station".