[meteorite-list] Meteorite's Location Found In Siberia

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:07:04 2004
Message-ID: <200210281834.KAA28758_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

> This may be a dumb question but I have nil experience with metal
> detectors. Wouldn't it be possible to detect meteoritic debris with
> the help of high-precision metal detectors even if it is covered by
> several inches of snow?

If the fragments were iron meteorites, then metal detectors would easily find them provided
they are not too deep in the snow. Most metal detectors are going to be limited to
about 6 inches (or less) in depth. Also, odds are are the fragments will be stony
chondrites, and stony chondrites are a bit more difficult for a metal detector to pick up.
I once took a number of meteorites to a store that sold metal detectors to test out.
I tried out various types meteorites with about a dozen different metal detectors.
They all had no problem with the irons and stony-irons. However, all of the metal
detectors had problems detecting stony meteorites. I had to play with the detectors to
fine-tune it to a particular stony meteorite, but once it was fined tuned for
one meteorite, it would tend to ignore a lot of the other stony meteorites. I couldn't
configure the detectors into a mode where it would pick up all or most of the
stony chondrites.

Ron Baalke
Received on Mon 28 Oct 2002 01:34:29 PM PST