Australia
Found in 1930
CBa chondrite (Bencubbinite)
Total mass : 134.56 kg
In collection :
1.68g slice
The first mass (54.2 kg) of Bencubbin was discovered in 1930 during ploughing in newly cleared land, on Holland and Breakill’s wheat farm (Block 2557), 15 kilometres north-west of Bencubbin.
A second, larger mass (64.6 kg) was found in 1959, and a third mass (15.76 kg) was found in 1974.
Bencubbin has subsequently proved to be an extreme rarity and have significant scientific importance. Originally classified as a ‘stony-iron’, today it is recognised as the type specimen of a new group of carbonaceous chondrites (CB), or ‘Bencubbinites’.
Bencubbin is a breccia (a rock formed of angular fragments cemented by a finer material) enclosing clasts of material from other chondritic groups, and the meteorite remains the subject of extensive ongoing research.