Gebel Kamil Iron Meteorite Individual, Ungrouped Ataxite, 224.00g, Egyptian Crater Discovery

Individual specimen from Earth's youngest confirmed impact crater

This 224.00g individual retains the natural surface texture acquired during its residence in Egypt's Eastern Desert. The specimen exhibits the characteristic dark patina that develops on iron meteorites exposed to arid conditions, with surface features shaped by both atmospheric entry and terrestrial weathering. Gebel Kamil's discovery in 2009 provided scientists with access to fresh material from a crater system less than 5,000 years old, making specimens like this particularly valuable for studying recent impact dynamics and iron meteorite weathering processes in desert environments.

The Gebel Kamil crater measures 45 meters in diameter and preserves exceptional evidence of hypervelocity impact. Unlike most iron meteorite falls where material scatters across wide strewnfields, Gebel Kamil specimens cluster around a well-defined crater structure, allowing researchers to correlate individual fragments with specific impact mechanics. This specimen's mass and form reflect the violent fragmentation that occurs when iron bodies strike Earth at cosmic velocities.

Ataxite structure and composition

Gebel Kamil belongs to the ungrouped ataxites, a classification reserved for iron meteorites with such high nickel content that they lack the octahedral crystal structure typical of most iron meteorites. Instead of Widmanstätten patterns, ataxites display a nearly homogeneous metal structure visible only under specialized microscopic analysis. The exterior surface shows regmaglypts and ablation features from atmospheric passage, preserved beneath the desert patina that accumulated over millennia of terrestrial exposure.

The ungrouped designation indicates this meteorite does not fit existing iron meteorite groups based on trace element analysis and structural characteristics. This specimen represents material from a parent body with a distinct thermal and chemical evolution, likely a differentiated asteroid core that experienced cooling conditions different from those that produced grouped iron meteorites.

Scientific context

The Gebel Kamil impact occurred within the past 5,000 years, making it one of the youngest confirmed crater-forming events on Earth. The crater's preservation in the hyper-arid Saharan environment allowed scientists to study impact processes with minimal erosional modification. Fresh specimens recovered from the crater site provide data on shock effects, fragmentation patterns, and the relationship between impactor mass and crater dimensions for iron meteorite impacts.

Ataxites form in parent body cores where extremely slow cooling rates allow nickel-rich metal to remain in a uniform crystal structure. The high nickel content prevents the formation of kamacite lamellae that create visible Widmanstätten patterns in octahedral irons. Study of ungrouped ataxites like Gebel Kamil helps scientists understand the diversity of differentiation processes in early solar system planetesimals. Learn About Meteorites

The story

Kamil Crater was found from a computer screen in Italy. In 2008 the mineralogist Vincenzo De Michele, then with the Civico Museo di Storia Naturale in Milan, was studying natural features in Google Earth satellite imagery when, by chance, he noticed a small round crater in the remote desert of southwestern Egypt, near the borders with Sudan and Libya.

De Michele contacted astrophysicist Mario Di Martino of the INAF observatory in Turin, who organised an expedition with Luigi Folco of the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide in Siena. Planning and permissions took more than a year. In February 2010 a two-week, 40-person Italian and Egyptian expedition reached the site, confirmed the crater as a meteorite impact, and collected fragments of the iron meteorite that made it. The crater and the meteorite take their name from Gebel Kamil, a nearby mountain.

Sources: European Space Agency, Egyptian desert expedition confirms spectacular meteorite impact (2010); Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Gebel Kamil, MB 98.

What the research reports

The Meteoritical Bulletin classifies Gebel Kamil as an ungrouped iron. Its writeup in Meteoritical Bulletin 98 describes a Ni-rich ataxite with 19.8 wt% nickel, extensive shear deformation and low weathering, found on 19 February 2009. It records about 1,600 kg of shrapnel in thousands of pieces, plus a single 83 kg individual covered in regmaglypts, of which about 800 kg was recovered. The peer-reviewed studies below agree with that classification and describe the crater the meteorite made. Their findings come from the authors’ own fieldwork and samples, and are given here as the studies state them.

Folco et al. (2010): the discovery paper

L. Folco, M. Di Martino, A. El Barkooky, M. D’Orazio and fourteen Italian and Egyptian co-authors reported the find in The Kamil Crater in Egypt (Science, volume 329, page 804, 2010). During systematic searches they identified 5,178 iron meteorite specimens totalling about 1.71 tonnes in and around the 45 m crater. Apart from one 83 kg individual, all of them were shrapnel produced when the impactor exploded on striking the ground. The team’s tally differs from the Bulletin’s because it counts every specimen they located, while the Bulletin records the mass observed and the portion recovered.

D’Orazio et al. (2011): the meteorite that made the crater

M. D’Orazio, L. Folco, A. Zeoli and C. Cordier, of the University of Pisa and the Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide at the University of Siena, published Gebel Kamil: The iron meteorite that formed the Kamil crater (Egypt) (Meteoritics & Planetary Science, volume 46, pages 1179 to 1196, 2011). They date the crater to less than 5,000 years ago and describe it and its meteorite fragments as extremely well preserved. With the exception of the single 83 kg individual, they describe every specimen as “explosion fragments” weighing from under 1 g to 34 kg.

Urbini et al. (2012): one impactor, not a swarm

S. Urbini and colleagues published Geological and geophysical investigation of Kamil crater, Egypt (Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 2012). The crater’s shape indicates it was made by a single mass or a very tight cluster of fragments, a departure from the general model in which small iron meteoroids break up in the atmosphere and form fields of several craters.

Frequently asked questions

Is this meteorite authenticated? Yes, Gebel Kamil is classified in the Meteoritical Bulletin as an ungrouped ataxite iron meteorite found in Egypt in 2009. Meteoritical Bulletin entry: Gebel Kamil. This specimen includes a certificate of authenticity from Treasure Coast Meteorite Co.

What does ungrouped ataxite mean? Ataxites are iron meteorites with such high nickel content (typically over 16%) that they lack the crystalline structure that produces Widmanstätten patterns. Ungrouped means this meteorite's chemical signature does not match any established iron meteorite group, indicating it originated from a unique parent body with distinct formation conditions.

What is included with this specimen? The listing includes the 224.00g Gebel Kamil individual with natural surface patina and a certificate of authenticity. No display stand is included.

Why is the Gebel Kamil crater scientifically significant? As one of Earth's youngest confirmed impact craters at less than 5,000 years old, Gebel Kamil preserves exceptional evidence of iron meteorite impact processes. The crater's discovery allowed scientists to study fresh impact material and correlate crater morphology with known impactor characteristics, providing rare data on small iron meteorite impacts.

What caused the dark surface patina? The patina results from oxidation and chemical weathering during the meteorite's residence in Egypt's Eastern Desert. Desert-weathered iron meteorites develop characteristic surface textures and coloration from exposure to temperature fluctuations, wind abrasion, and limited moisture over thousands of years.

Significance for collectors and researchers

Gebel Kamil specimens occupy a distinct position in meteorite collections due to their association with a named, studied impact crater. Unlike most meteorite finds where context is limited to strewnfield coordinates, this specimen comes from a crater system where scientists mapped impact mechanics, ejecta distribution, and fragmentation patterns. The 224.00g mass represents substantial material from an ungrouped classification, providing collectors with access to iron meteorite chemistry not represented in the major groups.

The combination of recent discovery, crater association, and ungrouped status makes Gebel Kamil particularly desirable for institutional and private collections focused on impact processes or iron meteorite diversity. This individual's natural surface preservation documents both the violence of atmospheric entry and the slow modification by desert weathering. Browse similar specimens in our Iron Meteorites collection.

Meteoritical Bulletin entry: Gebel Kamil | Classification: Iron (ungrouped, ataxite) | Find, Egypt, 2009