[meteorite-list] Re: hunting

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:44:42 2004
Message-ID: <20010323221816.74376.qmail_at_web10402.mail.yahoo.com>

"Burial (in the right kind of soil) will definitely
extend the terrestrial lifetime of a meteorite. Just
look at Gold Basin -- they're in surprisingly good
shape despite their 20,000+ year earth age."

Although I agree with Kelly and Rob's interpretation,
I think a better example of "preservation by burial"
are the Holbrook (L6) stones that are still being
found to this day. Those that have been found after
just having been washed out of a sandy hummock, are
just as fresh looking as a Foote specimen collected
nearly 90 years ago. But those stones that have lain
too long on the surface before being found show a
great deal of weathering.

I've been looking at a lot of Gold Basin finds,
lately, and there is no doubt - they are "in
surprisingly good shape", but the more remarkable
thing is that the interiors of those desert-varnished
stones found on the surface are not much worse than
those stones found buried 6 inches down! This can be
attributed to the ability of a Gold Basin's dense,
compact matrix to resist the absorption of rain and
ground water, far better than most other chondrites.

Bob V.

--__--__--
From: "Matson, Robert" <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_saic.com>
To: 'Kelly Webb' <kelly_at_bhil.com>
Cc: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 12:57:41 -0800

Subject: [meteorite-list] Re: hunting

Hi Kelly and list,

Getting caught up on some posts from earlier in the
week.
In one, you wrote:

> As for desert damage to meteorites, I have this
> little 30 gram Dhofar 020 from Oman that's a
> flattened shape. One face is eroded, chewed, crusted
> with caliche and god knows what else, but flip it
> over and the rest of the stone is perfect, good as
> new crust. Partial burial evidently protected it, at
> least that's how I read it.

That would be my interpretation. Burial (in the right
kind of soil) will definitely extend the terrestrial
lifetime of a meteorite. Just look at Gold Basin --
they're in surprisingly good shape despite their
20,000+ year earth age.

+++snip!+++

Best,
Rob
--__--__--





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Received on Fri 23 Mar 2001 05:18:16 PM PST