Nothing        34°31’13.93"N, 113°20’8.93"W

Arizona, USA

Found: 2010

Classification: Iron meteorite (IID)

History: In 2010, a gold prospector with a metal detector located an iron mass buried about 60 cm below the surface, 4.5 km north of Nothing, Arizona. The finder sold most of the mass (3.3 kg) in 2012 at a natural history auction, where it was purchased by K.D. Jenkerson.

Physical characteristics: Flattened, rusty mass covered in caliche. Interior relatively fresh.

Petrography: (L. Garvie, ASU) Etched sections display well-developed medium Widmanstätten pattern, with average bandwidth of 0.8 mm. Kamacite lamellae straight to swollen, with rounded ends where they abut against other lamellae. Kamacite displays abundant Neumann bands. Taenite and plessite cover about 45% by area; dark etching plessite predominates, comb and net plessite also present. Schreibersite occurs as abundant 0.5 to 3 μm inclusions in kamacite, as elongated skeletal crystals enveloped in swathing kamacite, and as uncommon lamellae. Only one (3 × 2 mm) troilite nodule observed.

Geochemistry: (J.T. Wasson, UCLA) Composition by INAA: 6.63 mg/g Co, 101.3 mg/g Ni, 295 μg/g Cu, 75.3 μg/g Ga, 4.92 μg/g As, 16.1 μg/g Ir, 20.2 μg/g Pt, and 0.628 μg/g Au. The Nothing meteorite is distinct from the other two IID irons from the southwestern US, Wallapai (3.99 μg/g Ir and 1.533 μg/g Au) and Needles (5.37 μg/g Ir and 1.404 μg/g Au). Its nearest relative is Carbo (14.3 μg/g Ir), but Nothing is compositionally well resolved.

Classification: Iron, IID

Specimens: 120.83 g at ASU