The Nantan meteorite fall was recorded having occurred in 1516 -- "During summertime in May of Jiajing 11th year, stars fell from the northwest direction, five to six fold long, waving like snakes and dragons. They were as bright as lightning and disappeared in seconds". The location was near the Lihu and Yaozhai towns, Nandan County, Guangxi, China. (25 degrees 6` N, 107 degree 42`E). Detailed mapping showed that the strewn field covers an area of 27 - 28 Km long and 8 Km wide, overlying Permian limestone and surface soils. The northwestern impact zone alignment concurs with the historical description. The shapes and Sizes Nantan meteorites vary considerably: spherical, triangle, flat-iron shaped, elliptical, semi-sheered, tongue-shaped, irregular, and so on. Fresh meteorite surfaces are black, and commonly characterised with angular or round melted pits. The ones deeply weathered are brown and lack melted surface. The size of Nantan meteorites collected ranges from 10 grams to 2,000 kg. Total weight is estimated to be 9,500 kg. Researchers from the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences have identified more than ten minerals in the Nantan meteorites: mainly kamacite and taenite, and also plessite, scheribersite, triolite, graphite, spherlite, sideroferrite, dyslytite, cliftonite, and lawrencite. Coarse octohedrite. Kamacite lamina are 1 - 3.1 mm wide. The meteorites also posses Widmanstattern patterns in polished pieces. The average Chemical composition in the Nantan meteorites are: Fe 92.35%, Ni 6.96%, belonging to IIICD type of iron meteorite based on the taxonomy of Wasson and others (1980). The following trace elements have been detected: C, Cu, Co, S, P, Cr, Ga, Ge, As, Sb, W, Re, Ir, Au, Ru, Pd, Os, Pr, and Mn. Ag, Cd, and Pb isotopes have been analysed by Prof. Wang Daode and others (1993).
