Meteorite Discoveries

Table MD-1. Saskatchewan Meteorite Find Locations

Canadian Plains Research Center

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A meteorite is a solid object of extraterrestrial origin that has survived its passage through the Earth’s atmosphere and fallen to the ground. Derived from the main belt asteroid region in the solar system (with a rare few from the Moon and Mars), meteorites are broadly classified as stones (94% of falls), irons (5% of falls) and stony-irons (1% of falls). Saskatchewan’s first recognized meteorite find was made on July 30, 1916, by William Huiras in the Annaheim area. The meteorite was an 11.84 kg iron. The two most recent meteorite finds in Saskatchewan were made during the summer of 2000 in the Delaine Lake and Kyle areas. The most numerously populated strewn field of meteorites to be discovered in Saskatchewan (and indeed all of Canada) is that in the Red Deer Hill area south of Prince Albert. John Hrynuik found the first fragment from this strewn field in May 1975. Since then more than thirty additional meteorite fragments have been recovered for a total known mass of 22.5 kg. All told, fragments from some fourteen distinct meteorite falls have been found in Saskatchewan since 1916, constituting eight stones, five irons, and one stony-iron (see Table MD-1).

None of the meteorites found in Saskatchewan was large enough to produce substantial impact structures on the ground. However, Astroblemes (eroded remnants of craters created by the impact of larger objects such as small asteroids) do exist in Saskatchewan: the Viewfield crater is an example of an impact structure now buried by overlying soils, while the Gow crater in northern Saskatchewan subsequently filled with water to become a lake.

Martin Beech