[meteorite-list] Elma material - the "problem" if it IS a meteorite

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:16:36 2004
Message-ID: <20030826223813.76009.qmail_at_web80510.mail.yahoo.com>

Question #1:

Is this material a meteorite, or is it not?

And the corollary questions:

Why is it so hard to decide whether it is a meteorite,
or not?
and
What is it specifically that makes anyone think that
this material is meteoritic-related?

If it turns out that this material is
meteorite-related, then kudos are certainly in order
for all those involved in its identification, and
specifically to the Hupes for being able to convince
the researchers to take a second look at this stuff.
Seriously, if I were to go to a university dragging in
some "material" that looked like this and suggest that
they should analyze it, I would be laughed at, and if
I insisted, I could count on being ridiculed.

If THIS is a meteorite, then I find this very
problematic, because so many meteor-wrongs look just
like this material. And every finder of a piece of
vesicular slag that thinks it is a meteorite, will
point to this Elma material and say, "Well it looks
just like that material, and ITS a meteorite!"

When "anything" can be a meteorite, identification of
meteor-wrongs will be impossible. When trying to
identify whether a specimen is a meteor-wrong or a
meteorite, by visual means, it will become impossible
to convince the finder that he has a meteor-wrong.

I should look at the bright-side.
This will free up a lot of bandwidth on this List!

;-)
Bob V.


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Received on Tue 26 Aug 2003 06:38:13 PM PDT