Odessa
History

Name: Odessa
Location: Ector County
Texas
Type: Octahedrite, Coarse, IA

Discovered in 1923, Geologists estimate that the time of the meteor fall was about 20,000 years ago.
The shower was composed of many thousands of individual meteorites of various sizes that fell over an
area of about two square miles. The smaller meteorites, which were by far the most numerous, either came
to rest on the earth's surface or at the bottom of shallow impact pits within the soil. There were several large
meteoric masses in the shower, however, and these struck the earth with such enormous energy that they
penetrated deeply into bedrock and shattered with explosive force, thus producing craters in the earth at the
places of impact. The largest crater is about 550 feet in diameter and 100 feet in depth. Smaller craters in the
vicinity of the main crater range from 15 to 70 feet in diameter and from seven feet to 18 feet in depth.