Every recorded meteorite to have struck Earth mapped

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A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an asteroid or comet that originates in outer space and remains on its journey through its atmosphere and collision with the planet’s surface.

The map below illustrates 4,516 found meteorites that have fallen to the surface of our planet since 301 AD.

Approximately 500 tonnes of meteoritic wreckage fall to the planet each day, much of it as little cosmic dust and micrometeorites that sink into the ocean. About five hundred meteorites of moderate size would strike our planet’s surface each year, of which 150 would fall on the landmass, and less than ten would be found. Most meteorites fall in mountainous or remote landscapes and have a lower probability of being found.

Were are meteorites are found by number?

An overwhelming number of meteorites are found in deserts, including ice deserts such as Antarctica. Deserts are areas that accumulate meteorites over thousands of years, and nothing much happens to the fallen meteorite. Moreover, meteorites are more straightforward to discover in deserts than in areas with lots of vegetation or other rocks.

For example, more than 22,000 meteorites have been found in Antarctica alone. Oman comes after Antarctica in terms of the number of meteorites found. During the last 10 years, Oman has yielded almost 1/5 of the globe’s meteorites. Oman’s findings include 1/3 of all known lunar meteorites and some of the examples from Mars. The map below shows the number of meteorites falls by country.

Top 20 countries/landmasses by the number found meteorites

Rank	Country	Number of meteorites	Rank	Country	Number of meteorites
1	Antarctica	22,099	11	Russia	132
2	Oman	3,093	12	China	101
3	United States	1,656	13	Mexico	97
4	Libya	1,465	14	Sweden	79
5	Australia	640	15	Argentina	70
6	Algeria	631	16	France	70
7	Chile	404	17	Canada	59
8	Kenia	228	18	Brazil	56
9	Morocco	220	19	Japan	51
10	India	133	20	Germany	46

Were are meteorites are found by mass?

The geographic concentration of meteorites is significantly different if assessed by mass instead of by number. The field for Antarctica decreases significantly. In Antarctica, all meteorites are gathered regardless of size. Therefore, the median mass of meteorites from Antarctica is 13.43 grams.

Top 20 countries/landmasses by the total mass of all the fallen meteorites.

Rank	Country	The total mass, tonnes	Rank	Country	The total mass, tonnes
1	United States	90.8	11	Chile	6.3
2	Namibia	86.3	12	Morocco	4.2
3	Mexico	72.4	13	Saudi Arabia	4.2
4	China	55.0	14	Antarctica	3.9
5	Argentina	53.9	15	South Africa	2.8
6	Australia	51.5	16	France	2.6
7	Russia	32.1	17	Algeria	2.2
8	Tanzania	16.0	18	Germany	1.9
9	Brazil	12.2	19	Egypt	1.7
10	Oman	6.7	20	Libya	1.7

The map below shows the median mass of the fallen meteorites by country

Top 20 countries/landmasses by the median mass of the fallen meteorites.

Rank	Country	The median mass, kilograms	Rank	Country	The median mass, kilograms
1	Colombia	412.7	11	Thailand	16.7
2	Somalia	186.0	12	Estonia	14.6
3	Azerbaijan	88.6	13	Brazil	14.4
4	Uruguay	80.0	14	Portugal	12.4
5	Serbia	57.0	15	Vietnam	11.0
6	Lesotho	45.3	16	Slovakia	10.5
7	Venezuela	30.0	17	Indonesia	10.3
8	Zimbabwe	22.3	18	Mexico	10.0
9	Jamaica	20.5	19	Greece	8.5
10	Mongolia	17.5	20	Greenland	7.5

Meteorites by mass

The largest discovered meteorite weighs sixty tonnes and yet remains where it fell, at Hoba in Namibia.

Top 10 largest ever meteorites

Rank	Name	Country	Mass, tonnes	Fall observation year
1	Hoba	Namibia	66.0	1920
2	Campo del Cielo (El Chaco)	Argentina	37.0	1969
3	Cape York (Ahnighito)	Greenland	30.875	1894
4	Armanty	China	28.0	1898
5	Bacubirito	Mexico	22.0	1863
6	Cape York (Agpalilik)	Greenland	20.1	1963
7	Mbosi	Tanzania	16.0	1930
8	Campo del Cielo	Argentina	14.850	2005
9	Willamette	United States	14.140	1902
10	Chupaderos I	Mexico	14.114	1852

Types of meteorites

There are three principal types of meteorites, depending on how much metal or stony silicate mineral is present:

• stony meteorites (the most frequent type of meteorite; they can be of a reasonably large mass and consist primarily of the silicate minerals olivine and pyroxene with feldspar and scattered nickel-iron)
• iron meteorites (the second most frequent type of meteorite and have the most extensive masses)
• stony-iron meteorites

Each type can be divided into various classes and groups. A more detailed classification of meteorites is primarily based on their mineralogical and petrographic characteristics and their whole-rock chemical and O-isotopic compositions.

According to the more complex modern classification system, meteorites are classified into chondrites, primitive achondrites, and achondrites. There are 15 chondrite groups, including eight carbonaceous (CI, CM, CO, CV, CK, CR, CH, CB), three ordinary (H, L, LL), two enstatites (EH, EL), and R and K chondrites.

Interactive map of meteorite impacts

The interactive map below shows the location of all registered meteorite collisions on Earth. The color highlights the different groups of meteorites according to modern classification. The map was made using NASA data.