The Meteorite Map: Every US & Canada Fall and Find
Every officially recognized meteorite in the United States and Canada — 2,026 documented falls and finds — with the two things no other meteorite map has: where you're legally allowed to hunt, and where the hunting is actually good.
Where hunters actually go
Six proven grounds, with the honest access picture. “Fly to field” jumps the map there and switches on land status + claims so you can read the parcels yourself.
The classic beginner strewn field: an L4 chondrite fall roughly 15,000 years old, discovered in 1995 by a retired professor metal-detecting for gold. Thousands of weathered fragments have come out of the washes, and the field still produces.
Field note: Work the dry washes and alluvial fans — erosion concentrates fragments. Detectors earn their keep on the older, varnished pieces.
An H-chondrite field found in 2002 near the old Franconia rail siding, with over 40 distinct classified meteorites since. Productive — and a legality checkerboard.
Field note: This is exactly why the claims overlay exists: toggle Mining claims and watch the parcel edges before you swing a detector.
A witnessed 1912 fall that dropped an estimated 14,000+ small stones along the rail line. Pea-sized finds still surface after rains, more than a century later.
Field note: The strewn field is largely fenced ranch land today — landowner permission first, always.
A pallasite and iron field known since 1884 in the mountains east of Santa Fe — source of some of the most beautiful American pallasite specimens.
Field note: The Forest Service treats meteorites as scientific objects, not casually collectible rock. Study the field, verify current rules before any collecting.
A pallasite strewn field known since 1882, hiding olivine-studded masses under Kiowa County wheat — including a 650 kg giant pulled up by metal detector in 2005.
Field note: The historic pattern here is landowner agreements — hunters lease access and share finds. Knock on doors, not fences.
Not one field but a strategy: ancient deflation surfaces where wind has stripped fine sediment for millennia, leaving any dark, dense stone sitting exposed on light ground.
Field note: Walk slow transects on playa margins and desert pavement. Eyes first, magnet cane second — and never touch a magnet directly to a suspect stone.
Recent fireballs
Live from NASA/JPL's fireball sensors — big atmospheric events worldwide. A bright fireball plus weather-radar returns is how fresh falls get found within days.
| When | Where | Energy |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 20269 days ago | over the North Pacific | 0.13 kt |
| Aug 14, 202610 days ago | Over Washington | 0.13 kt |
| Aug 1, 20263 weeks ago | over the South Pacific | 0.1 kt |
| Jul 21, 20265 weeks ago | over South America | 0.11 kt |
| Jun 11, 20262 months ago | over Africa | 0.11 kt |
| May 30, 20263 months ago | Over Massachusetts | 1.1 kt |
| May 21, 20263 months ago | over Asia | 0.12 kt |
| May 10, 20264 months ago | over the South Pacific | 0.19 kt |
A daylight fireball over Lake Huron left debris signatures on weather radar over Cockburn Island — the newest radar-detected fall in North America. Canadian law makes meteorites cultural property: fully legal to hunt and keep domestically, but taking one out of the country needs an export permit.
Is this rock a meteorite?
Labs see ~7,000 hopeful rocks a year; one or two are real. Run the 60-second field test and meet the three great impostors.
The famous ones
The famous one: in 1954 a fragment crashed through a farmhouse roof in Sylacauga, Alabama, bounced off a radio, and struck Ann Hodges as she napped — the first well-documented case of a meteorite hitting a person.
The largest meteorite ever found in the US — a 15.5-ton iron discovered in Oregon in 1902, now the centerpiece of the American Museum of Natural History. No impact crater was ever found; glaciers likely rafted it from Canada.
The iron that dug Meteor Crater ~50,000 years ago. Fragments scattered across the surrounding plain have supplied museums (and the jewelry trade) for over a century. The crater itself is private land — the surrounding public ground is where fragments were found.
Fell in 1992 after a fireball seen from Kentucky to Ontario — and punched through the trunk of a parked Chevy Malibu in Peekskill, NY. The car became a museum piece that has toured the world.
Rained stones on the Chicago suburbs in 2003, punching holes in roofs and a fire station. One of the best-documented urban falls in history.
A 1912 Arizona fall that dropped an estimated 14,000+ small stones along the railroad near Holbrook. Collectors still walk the strewn field today, and fresh finds are still made after rains.
A huge, diffuse strewn field in Mohave County, Arizona, discovered in 1995 by a retired professor metal-detecting for gold nuggets. Thousands of weathered chondrite fragments have been recovered — the classic beginner strewn field.
A pallasite strewn field in Kiowa County, Kansas, known since 1882. Thousands of kilograms of olivine-studded stony-iron have come out of these fields — including a 650 kg mass found with a metal detector in 2005.
A one-ton aubrite that fell across Norton County, Kansas in 1948 after a daylight fireball. The main mass — the largest witnessed stony fall in the US at the time — is at the University of New Mexico.
An iron that formed its own crater field near Odessa, Texas. The main crater is a designated landmark with a small museum; fragments turned up across the surrounding ranch land for decades.
Another productive Arizona strewn field, found in 2002 near the Franconia railroad siding. Hunters with metal detectors continue to pull chondrites (and several distinct meteorites) from the area.
Fell onto a frozen lake on the BC–Yukon border in January 2000. Locals collected fragments off the ice without touching them and kept them frozen — preserving one of the most primitive, carbon-rich meteorites ever recovered.
Crashed into an Alberta wheat field in 1952. At 107 kg it remains the largest enstatite chondrite ever found — recovered from the bottom of a two-meter hole days after a fireball lit up the night.
Alberta, 1960: a dawn fireball dropped over 300 kg of stones — Canada’s largest witnessed fall. Hundreds of fragments were gathered from the snow within days.
A Saskatchewan pallasite found in 1931 — gem-grade olivine crystals in nickel-iron. New masses were still being recovered from the same field in 2009.
Can you keep what you find?
- BLM land: yes — casual collecting is free and legal, up to 10 lb per person per year, surface finds, hand tools and metal detectors, personal use only (no resale).
- National parks & monuments: never. Collecting anything is a federal offense.
- Forest Service: meteorites are treated as scientific objects, not casual-collection rock — assume no.
- Private land: the meteorite belongs to the landowner — settled law since 1892 (Goddard v. Winchell). Permission first.
- State land: varies hard — Arizona State Trust prohibits it, Utah requires a paid permit. Check per state.
- Hunting and keeping: fully legal. You can find, keep, buy, and sell meteorites within Canada.
- Whose is it: the landowner's, on private land — same rule as the US.
- The one catch: every Canadian meteorite is automatically cultural property, so taking one out of the country requires an export permit — museums get first refusal on significant pieces.
- Parks: no collecting in national or provincial parks, same as everything else.
By state & province
Coordinates are historical find locations from the scientific record, often approximate and sometimes deliberately generalized — not guaranteed collecting spots. Verify land status and permissions before hunting. Source of record: Meteoritical Bulletin Database (Meteoritical Society) · Fireballs: NASA/JPL CNEOS · Land status: BLM, BC Mineral Titles, CPCAD (ECCC).