October 13, 2000

1 min read

Google Logo Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm

Tagish Lake Meteorite

By Kate Wong

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Image: copyright of UWO and the University of Calgary

Last January a meteorite hurtled into Earth's atmosphere in a fiery streak, landing on the fozen surface of Tagish Lake in Canada. New research reported today in the journal Science suggests that this ancient rock may be the most primitive solar system material yet studied.

According to the report, the Tagish Lake meteorite appears to have originated in the middle of the asteroid belt as part of a meteoroid that, in its pre-atmospheric state, had a mass of about 200,000 kilograms. It belongs to a rare class of meteorites known as carbonaceous chondrites, which comprise only around 2 percent of all meteorites. Furthermore, analyses of its mineral composition and carbon and oxygen isotopes indicate that Tagish Lake represents an entirely new type of carbonaceous chondrite, the most primitive known. As such it should contain the clearest record of the solar system's most ancient events. "The more pristine meteoritic material of this type we can analyze, the better we will understand how our solar system formed and how the remnants of others came to be incorporated into it," Jeffrey N. Grossman of the U.S. Geological Survey writes in a commentary accompanying the report. "It seems likely that the Tagish Lake meteorite will be the most important recovered fall since the Allende (Mexico) and Murchison (Australia) events, both in 1969, touched off a revolution in our understanding of meteorites and what they tell us about the early solar system."

Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor for features at Scientific American, where she has focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for nearly 30 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home to the shores of Kenya’s Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, as well as to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and a “Big Day” race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Wong is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy’s Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow her on Bluesky @katewong.bsky.social

More by Kate Wong

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Subscribe