Editing Meteorite (section)

==Collection==
{{see also|Impact event}}
A "meteorite fall", also called an "observed fall", is a meteorite collected after its arrival was observed by people or automated devices. Any other meteorite is called a "meteorite find".<ref>{{cite web |first1=Michael K. |last1=Weisberg |first2=Timothy J. |last2=McCoy |first3=Alexander N. |last3=Krot |url=http://web.pdx.edu/~ruzickaa/meteorites/papers/WeisbergEtal2006-classification.pdf |title=Systematics and Evaluation of Meteorite Classification |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819125525/http://web.pdx.edu/~ruzickaa/meteorites/papers/WeisbergEtal2006-classification.pdf |archive-date=19 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Ronald A. |last1=Oriti |first2=William B. |last2=Starbird |title=Introduction to astronomy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3vvAAAAMAAJ |year=1977 |publisher=[[McGraw-Hill Education|Glencoe Press]] |isbn=978-0-02-478560-2 |page=168}}</ref> There are more than 1,100 documented falls listed in widely used databases,<ref name=metbulldb>{{cite web |url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/ |title=Meteoritical Bulletin Database |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223220959/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/ |archive-date=23 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/metcat/ |title=The Meteorite Catalogue Database at the Natural History Museum |website=internt.nhm.ac.uk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820092520/http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/metcat/ |archive-date=20 August 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metbase.de/ |title=MetBase |website=metbase.de |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061219010446/http://www.metbase.de/ |archive-date=19 December 2006}}</ref> most of which have specimens in modern collections. {{as of|January 2019}}, the ''Meteoritical Bulletin Database'' had 1,180 confirmed falls.<ref name=metbulldb/>

===Falls===

[[File:Benldmeteorite.jpg|thumb|Car seat and muffler hit by the [[Benld, Illinois|Benld]] meteorite in 1938, with the meteorite inset. An observed fall.]]
Most meteorite falls are collected on the basis of eyewitness accounts of the fireball or the impact of the object on the ground, or both. Therefore, despite the fact that meteorites fall with virtually equal probability everywhere on Earth, verified meteorite falls tend to be concentrated in areas with higher human population densities such as Europe, Japan, and northern India.

A small number of meteorite falls have been observed with automated cameras and recovered following calculation of the impact point. The first of these was the [[Přibram meteorite|Příbram meteorite]], which fell in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) in 1959.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ceplecha |first=Z. |year=1961 |title=Multiple fall of Příbram meteorites photographed |journal=Bull. Astron. Inst. Czechoslovakia |volume=12 |pages=21–46 |bibcode=1961BAICz..12...21C }}</ref> In this case, two cameras used to photograph meteors captured images of the fireball. The images were used both to determine the location of the stones on the ground and, more significantly, to calculate for the first time an accurate orbit for a recovered meteorite.

Following the Příbram fall, other nations established automated observing programs aimed at studying infalling meteorites. One of these was the ''Prairie Network'', operated by the [[Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory]] from 1963 to 1975 in the [[Midwestern United States|midwestern US]]. This program also observed a meteorite fall, the ''Lost City'' chondrite, allowing its recovery and a calculation of its orbit.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McCrosky |first1=R.E. |first2=A. |last2=Posen |first3=G. |last3=Schwartz |first4=C.-Y. |last4=Shao |title=Lost City Meteorite–Its Recovery and a Comparison with Other Fireballs |year=1971 |journal=J. Geophys. Res. |volume=76 |issue=17 |pages=4090–4108 |doi=10.1029/JB076i017p04090 |bibcode=1971JGR....76.4090M|hdl=2060/19710010847 |s2cid=140675097 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Another program in Canada, the Meteorite Observation and Recovery Project, ran from 1971 to 1985. It too recovered a single meteorite, ''Innisfree'', in 1977.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campbell-Brown |first1=M. D. |last2=Hildebrand |first2=A. |year=2005 |title=A new analysis of fireball data from the Meteorite Observation and Recovery Project (MORP) |journal=Earth, Moon, and Planets |volume=95 |pages=489–499|issue=1–4 |doi=10.1007/s11038-005-0664-9 |bibcode=2004EM&P...95..489C|s2cid=121255827 }}</ref> Finally, observations by the [[European Fireball Network]], a descendant of the original Czech program that recovered Příbram, led to the discovery and orbit calculations for the ''[[Neuschwanstein]]'' meteorite in 2002.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=J. |last1= Oberst |first2=D.|last2=Heinlein |first3=U. |last3=Köhler |first4=P. |last4=Spurný |year=2004 |title=The multiple meteorite fall of Neuschwanstein: Circumstances of the event and meteorite search campaigns |journal=Meteoritics & Planetary Science |volume=39 |issue=10 |pages=1627–1641 |bibcode=2004M&PS...39.1627O |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.2004.tb00062.x|s2cid= 59324805 |doi-access=free }}</ref> NASA has an automated system that detects meteors and calculates the orbit, magnitude, [[ground track]], and other parameters over the southeast USA, which often detects a number of events each night.<ref>{{cite web
 | last = Cooke
 | first = Bill
 | title = NASA's All Sky Fireball Network
 | publisher = NASA
 | url = http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/
 | access-date = 3 April 2013
 | archive-date = 4 February 2021
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210204060829/https://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref>

===Finds===

Until the twentieth century, only a few hundred meteorite finds had ever been discovered. More than 80% of these were iron and stony-iron meteorites, which are easily distinguished from local rocks. To this day, few stony meteorites are reported each year that can be considered to be "accidental" finds. The reason there are now more than 30,000 meteorite finds in the world's collections started with the discovery by [[Harvey H. Nininger]] that meteorites are much more common on the surface of the Earth than was previously thought.

==== Canada ====
Meteorites that land in Canada are protected under the ''Cultural Property Export and Import Act''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Alam |first1=Hina |title=Meteorites found in Canada cannot be removed from the country without permit |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-meteorite-export-laws-1.6851258 |website=CBC News |access-date=14 January 2025}}</ref> In July 2024, a meteorite was recorded by security footage crashing into a residential property in [[Marshfield, Prince Edward Island]]. It is believed to be the first time such an event has been captured on camera and the sound of the crash recorded.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brun |first1=Stephen |title=P.E.I. homeowner captures sound and video of meteorite strike on camera, and scientists believe it's a first |url=https://www.cbc.ca/1.7430018 |website=CBC News |access-date=14 January 2025}}</ref> It was subsequently registered as the Charlottetown meteorite, named after the city near to where it landed.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Holpuch |first=Amanda |date=2025-01-16 |title=A Meteorite Is Caught on Camera as It Crashes Outside a Front Door |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/science/meteorite-debris-security-camera-canada.html |access-date=2025-01-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

====United States====
Nininger's strategy was to search for meteorites in the [[Great Plains]] of the United States, where the land was largely cultivated and the soil contained few rocks. Between the late 1920s and the 1950s, he traveled across the region, educating local people about what meteorites looked like and what to do if they thought they had found one, for example, in the course of clearing a field. The result was the discovery of more than 200 new meteorites, mostly stony types.<ref>[http://www.meteoritearticles.com/mitterlingmain.html Website by A. Mitterling] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113072143/http://www.meteoritearticles.com/mitterlingmain.html |date=13 January 2021 }}. Meteoritearticles.com. Retrieved on 17 December 2011.</ref>

In the late 1960s, [[Roosevelt County, New Mexico]] was found to be a particularly good place to find meteorites. After the discovery of a few meteorites in 1967, a public awareness campaign resulted in the finding of nearly 100 new specimens in the next few years, with many being by a single person, Ivan Wilson. In total, nearly 140 meteorites were found in the region since 1967. In the area of the finds, the ground was originally covered by a shallow, loose soil sitting atop a [[hardpan]] layer. During the [[dustbowl]] era, the loose soil was blown off, leaving any rocks and meteorites that were present stranded on the exposed surface.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Huss |first1=G.I. |last2=Wilson |first2=I.E. |year=1973 |title=A census of the meteorites of Roosevelt County, New Mexico |journal=Meteoritics |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=287–290 |bibcode=1973Metic...8..287H |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1973.tb01257.x}}</ref>

[[File:Meteorite hunting in Mojave desert.jpg|thumb|upright|A stony meteorite (H5) found just north of [[Barstow, California|Barstow]], California, in 2006]]

Beginning in the mid-1960s, amateur meteorite hunters began scouring the arid areas of the southwestern United States.<ref>[http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1964Metic...2..177H&defaultprint=YES&filetype=.pdf A Preliminary Report on the Lucerne Valley, San {{sic|Bern|adino|nolink=y}} County, California, Aerolites] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428002223/http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1964Metic...2..177H&defaultprint=YES&filetype=.pdf |date=28 April 2021 }} Retrieved on 8 March 2018.</ref> To date, thousands of meteorites have been recovered from the [[Mojave Desert|Mojave]], [[Sonoran Desert|Sonoran]], [[Great Basin]], and [[Chihuahuan Desert]]s, with many being recovered on [[dry lake]] beds. Significant finds include the three-tonne [[Old Woman meteorite]], currently on display at the [[Desert Discovery Center]] in [[Barstow, California]], and the Franconia and Gold Basin meteorite strewn fields; hundreds of kilograms of meteorites have been recovered from each.<ref>[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=10174 Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Franconia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928165142/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=10174 |date=28 September 2020 }}. Lpi.usra.edu. Retrieved on 8 January 2020.</ref><ref>[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=10940 Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Gold Basin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811155208/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=10940 |date=11 August 2020 }}. Lpi.usra.edu. Retrieved on 8 January 2020.</ref><ref>[https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/bombardment2018/pdf/2006.pdf Found Locally in Arizona: Collisional Remnants of Planetesimal Affected by Impacts During the First Billion Years of Solar System History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301173741/https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/bombardment2018/pdf/2006.pdf |date=1 March 2020 }}. Bombardment: Shaping Planetary Surfaces and Their Environments 2018 (LPI Contrib. No. 2107). 30 September 2018. Retrieved on 5 February 2020.</ref> A number of finds from the American Southwest have been submitted with false find locations, as many finders think it is unwise to publicly share that information for fear of confiscation by the federal government and competition with other hunters at published find sites.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110726000445/http://www.discoverytrails.org/about2.html Old Woman Meteorite]. discoverytrails.org</ref><ref>[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=14706 Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Los Angeles meteorite] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603082205/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=14706 |date=3 June 2013 }}. Lpi.usra.edu (27 May 2009). Retrieved on 8 January 2020.</ref><ref>[http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com/2011/aug/0517.html The Meteorite List Archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205230656/http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com/2011/aug/0517.html |date=5 February 2020 }}. meteorite-list-archives.com (24 August 2011). Retrieved on 5 February 2020.</ref> Several of the meteorites found recently are currently on display in the [[Griffith Observatory]] in Los Angeles, and at [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]]'s Meteorite Gallery.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140725062007/http://www.meteorites.ucla.edu/gallery/ The UCLA Meteorite Collection]. ucla.edu</ref>

====Antarctica====
[[File:ALH84001 structures.jpg|thumb|A [[scanning electron microscope]] revealed structures resembling bacteria fossils – in the meteorite [[ALH84001]] discovered in Antarctica in 1984. Microscopically, the features were initially interpreted as fossils of bacteria-like lifeforms. It has since been shown that similar [[magnetite]] structures can form without the presence of microbial life in hydrothermal systems.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Golden |first=D. C. |year=2001 |title=A simple inorganic process for formation of carbonates, magnetite, and sulfides in Martian meteorite ALH84001 |journal=American Mineralogist |volume=86 |issue=3 |pages=370–375|bibcode=2001AmMin..86..370G |doi=10.2138/am-2001-2-321 |s2cid=54573774 }}</ref>]] 
A few meteorites were found in [[Antarctica]] between 1912 and 1964. In 1969, the 10th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition found nine meteorites on a [[Blue ice area|blue ice field]] near the [[Yamato Mountains]]. With this discovery, came the realization that movement of [[ice sheet]]s might act to concentrate meteorites in certain areas.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yoshida|first=Masaru|date=2010|title=Discovery of the Yamato Meteorites in 1969|journal=Polar Science|volume=3|issue=4|pages=272–284|doi=10.1016/j.polar.2009.11.001|issn=1873-9652|bibcode=2010PolSc...3..272Y|doi-access=free}}</ref> After a dozen other specimens were found in the same place in 1973, a Japanese expedition was launched in 1974 dedicated to the search for meteorites. This team recovered nearly 700 meteorites.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Meteorites: A Journey Through Space and Time|last1=Bevan|first1=Alex|last2=De Laeter|first2=John|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|year=2002|location=Washington DC|page=55}}</ref>

Shortly thereafter, the United States began its own program to search for Antarctic meteorites, operating along the [[Transantarctic Mountains]] on the other side of the continent: the Antarctic Search for Meteorites ([[ANSMET]]) program.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cassidy |first1=William |title=Meteorites, Ice, and Antarctica: A personal account |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-25872-2 |pages=17–20,28–29,337–341}}</ref> European teams, starting with a consortium called "EUROMET" in the 1990/91 season, and continuing with a program by the Italian Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide have also conducted systematic searches for Antarctic meteorites.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Delisle|first1=George|last2=Franchi|first2=Ian|last3=Rossi|first3=Antonio|last4=Wieler|first4=Rainer|date=1993|title=Meteorite finds by EUROMET near Frontier Mountain, North Victoria Land, Antarctica|journal=Meteoritics|language=en|volume=28|issue=1|pages=126–129|doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1993.tb00257.x|bibcode=1993Metic..28..126D|issn=1945-5100}}</ref>

The Antarctic Scientific Exploration of China has conducted successful meteorite searches since 2000. A Korean program (KOREAMET) was launched in 2007 and has collected a few meteorites.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 2nd KOREAMET found 16 meteorites |url=http://fireball.snu.ac.kr/koreamet/ |publisher=KORea Expedition for Antarctic METeorites (KOREAMET) |date=19 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414211419/http://fireball.snu.ac.kr/koreamet/ |archive-date=14 April 2008 |access-date=17 December 2011}}</ref> The combined efforts of all of these expeditions have produced more than 23,000 classified meteorite specimens since 1974, with thousands more that have not yet been classified. For more information see the article by Harvey (2003).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Harvey |first=Ralph |year=2003 |title=The origin and significance of Antarctic meteorites |journal= Geochemistry|volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=93–147 |doi=10.1078/0009-2819-00031|bibcode = 2003ChEG...63...93H }}</ref>

====Australia====
At about the same time as meteorite concentrations were being discovered in the cold desert of Antarctica, collectors discovered that many meteorites could also be found in the hot [[deserts of Australia]]. Several dozen meteorites had already been found in the [[Nullarbor]] region of [[Western Australia|Western]] and [[South Australia]]. Systematic searches between about 1971 and the present recovered more than 500 others,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bevan |first1=A.W.R. |last2=Binns |first2=R.A.|year=1989 |title=Meteorites from the Nullarbor region, Western Australia: I. A review of past recoveries and a procedure for naming new finds |journal=Meteorites |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=127–133 |bibcode=1989Metic..24..127B |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1989.tb00954.x}}</ref> ~300 of which are currently well characterized. The meteorites can be found in this region because the land presents a flat, featureless, plain covered by [[limestone]]. In the extremely arid climate, there has been relatively little [[weathering]] or [[sedimentation]] on the surface for tens of thousands of years, allowing meteorites to accumulate without being buried or destroyed. The dark-colored meteorites can then be recognized among the very different looking limestone pebbles and rocks.

====The Sahara====
[[File:NWA869Meteorite.jpg|thumb|This small meteorite is from the NWA 869 strewn field, near [[Tindouf]], Algeria. Currently classified as an L3.8-6 [[ordinary chondrite]] it shows [[breccia]]tion and abundant [[chondrule]]s.<ref>Meteoritical Bulletin Database [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=31890 www.lpi.usra.edu]</ref>]]
In 1986–87, a German team installing a network of seismic stations while prospecting for oil discovered about 65 meteorites on a flat, desert plain about {{Convert|100|km}} southeast of Dirj (Daraj), [[Libya]]. A few years later, a desert enthusiast saw photographs of meteorites being recovered by scientists in Antarctica, and thought that he had seen similar occurrences in [[North Africa|northern Africa]]. In 1989, he recovered about 100 meteorites from several distinct locations in Libya and Algeria. Over the next several years, he and others who followed found at least 400 more meteorites. The find locations were generally in regions known as [[desert|regs]] or [[hamada]]s: flat, featureless areas covered only by small pebbles and minor amounts of sand.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bischoff |first1=A. |last2=Geiger |first2=T.|year=1995 |title=Meteorites from the Sahara: find locations, shock classification, degree of weathering and pairing |journal=Meteoritics |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=113–122 |bibcode=1995Metic..30..113B |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1995.tb01219.x|doi-access=free }}</ref> Dark-colored meteorites can be easily spotted in these places. In the case of several meteorite fields, such as [[Dar al Gani]], Dhofar, and others, favorable light-colored geology consisting of [[Base (chemistry)|basic]] rocks (clays, [[Dolomite (mineral)|dolomite]]s, and [[limestone]]s) makes meteorites particularly easy to identify.<ref>{{cite journal |bibcode=2002M&PS...37.1079S |last1=Schlüter |first1=J. |last2=Schultz |first2=L. |last3=Thiedig |first3=F. |last4=Al-Mahdi |first4=B. O. |last5=Abu Aghreb |first5=A. E. |journal=Meteoritics & Planetary Science |volume=37 |issue=8 |pages=1079–1093 |year=2002 |title=The Dar al Gani meteorite field (Libyan Sahara): Geological setting, pairing of meteorites, and recovery density |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.2002.tb00879.x|s2cid=96452620 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Although meteorites had been sold commercially and collected by hobbyists for many decades, up to the time of the Saharan finds of the late 1980s and early 1990s, most meteorites were deposited in or purchased by museums and similar institutions where they were exhibited and made available for [[Scientific method|scientific research]]. The sudden availability of large numbers of meteorites that could be found with relative ease in places that were readily accessible (especially compared to Antarctica), led to a rapid rise in commercial collection of meteorites. This process was accelerated when, in 1997, meteorites coming from both the Moon and Mars were found in Libya. By the late 1990s, private meteorite-collecting expeditions had been launched throughout the Sahara. Specimens of the meteorites recovered in this way are still deposited in research collections, but most of the material is sold to private collectors. These expeditions have now brought the total number of well-described meteorites found in Algeria and Libya to more than 500.<ref>Meteoritical Bulletin Database [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/index.php?sea=sahara&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&dr=&page=1 www.lpi.usra.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503115326/http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/index.php?sea=sahara&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&dr=&page=1 |date=3 May 2015 }}</ref>

====Northwest Africa====

{{anchor|NWA}}<!-- Used by incoming redirects -->

Meteorite markets came into existence in the late 1990s, especially in [[Morocco]]. This trade was driven by Western commercialization and an increasing number of collectors. The meteorites were supplied by nomads and local people who combed the deserts looking for specimens to sell. Many thousands of meteorites have been distributed in this way, most of which lack any information about how, when, or where they were discovered. These are the so-called "Northwest Africa" meteorites. When they get classified, they are named "Northwest Africa" (abbreviated NWA) followed by a number.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://meteoriticalsociety.org/?page_id=59| title = Guidelines for Meteorite Nomenclature| access-date = 29 May 2014| archive-date = 27 March 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140327210145/http://meteoriticalsociety.org/?page_id=59| url-status = live}}</ref> It is generally accepted that NWA meteorites originate in Morocco, Algeria, Western Sahara, Mali, and possibly even further afield. Nearly all of these meteorites leave Africa through Morocco. Scores of important meteorites, including Lunar and Martian ones, have been discovered and made available to science via this route. A few of the more notable meteorites recovered include [[Tissint meteorite|Tissint]] and [[Northwest Africa 7034|NWA&nbsp;7034]]. Tissint was the first witnessed Martian meteorite fall in more than fifty years; NWA&nbsp;7034 is the oldest meteorite known to come from Mars, and is a unique water-bearing regolith breccia.

====Arabian Peninsula====
[[File:Meteoritenfund auf Wüstenpflaster.jpg|thumb|Meteorite find [[in situ]] on [[desert pavement]], [[Rub' al Khali]], Saudi Arabia. Probable [[chondrite]], weight 408.5 grams.]]
In 1999, meteorite hunters discovered that the desert in southern and central [[Oman]] were also favorable for the collection of many specimens. The gravel plains in the [[Dhofar]] and [[Al Wusta Region (Oman)|Al Wusta]] regions of Oman, south of the sandy deserts of the [[Empty Quarter|Rub' al Khali]], had yielded about 5,000 meteorites as of mid-2009. Included among these are a large number of [[lunar meteorite|lunar]] and [[mars meteorite|Martian]] meteorites, making Oman a particularly important area both for scientists and collectors. Early expeditions to Oman were mainly done by commercial meteorite dealers, however, international teams of Omani and European scientists have also now collected specimens.

The recovery of meteorites from Oman is currently prohibited by national law, but a number of international hunters continue to remove specimens now deemed national treasures. This new law provoked a small [[international incident]], as its implementation preceded any public notification of such a law, resulting in the prolonged imprisonment of a large group of meteorite hunters, primarily from Russia, but whose party also consisted of members from the US as well as several other European countries.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}