[meteorite-list] RE: Nantan Question

From: Greg Redfern <gredfern_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:03 2004
Message-ID: <NBBBJPGEPBMHMOJGKPFFMENKCDAA.gredfern_at_earthlink.net>

Bernd,

   Thank you for the reply, the references and the information. It seems
that several dealers in Nantan have picked up on the Chinese astronomical
record of 1516 describing "a dragon breathing fire across the sky". I have
also noted that Nantan is a "problem" meteorite due to severe oxidation. A
recent auction has a specimen "sealed" that just seemed to seal the oxidized
material in. One dealer states that they have found a way to combat the
problem.

My thanks,

Greg

-----Original Message-----
From: Bernd Pauli HD [mailto:bernd.pauli_at_lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de]
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 9:06 AM
To: gredfern_at_earthlink.net
Cc: Meteorite-List
Subject: Nantan Question


Greg Redfern wrote:

> Does anyone know if the Nantan Iron find in China has an established fall
> date of 1521? I saw a specimen advertised that listed the fall date which
is
> not contained in the COM.


Hi Greg and List,

You won't find it in M. Grady's Catalogue because this information
cannot be ascertained. I once heard about reports which are said to
exist in the archives of Nandan County about a fall that occurred in
1516, sometime in May. But it wasn't before 1958 that people in
China became aware of this historical record. I don't know if that
is true but, at least, that's the date we find in the Catalogue.

Buchwald doesn't mention Nantan and Wasson doesn't either. There
is an article in Meteoritics 29-6, 1994 on Chinese meteorite falls but
there is no mention of Nantan and 1521:

YAU K. et al. (1994) Meteorite Falls in China and Some Ralated
Human Casualty Events (Meteoritics 29-6, 1994, 864-871).

In the same issue of Meteoritics, there is another article and the
authors do mention Nantan as a IIICD iron but they also give the
same date (1958) that you find in the Catalogue:

CHEN Y. and WANG D. (1994) An Update of a Catalog of
Chinese Meteorites (Meteoritics 29-6, 1994, 886-890).


Best regards,

Bernd
Received on Sun 10 Feb 2002 10:34:54 AM PST