[meteorite-list] Indiana Rock Likely Came From Earth, Scientist Says

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:17:45 2004
Message-ID: <200312121631.IAA01338_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.indystar.com/articles/5/101451-2735-009.html

Burning rock likely came from Earth, scientist says
By Andy Gammill
Indystar.com
December 12, 2003
 
Indiana University scientists have concluded that a 4-inch rock that
crashed into a Shelby County construction site probably isn't a meteorite.

That leaves an even bigger mystery: where exactly the rock came from, and
how it burned itself 7 inches deep into a pile of foam insulation.

Bob and Brian Weddle, the Shelby County homebuilders who found it two weeks
ago, want to know what the rock is and said they plan to have other
experts look at it.

Nelson Shaffer, a researcher at the Indiana Geological Survey, took samples
of the rock Thursday and examined them at his Bloomington laboratory. Tests
suggest an earthly origin, he said.

If the rock is a meteorite, it's unlike any ever found before, he said.
Meteorites are so rare that Shaffer has found only two since he began
studying them in 1974.

Shaffer's tests confirmed that the rock contains quartz, which has never
been found on a meteorite. Plus, the rock isn't metallic and doesn't have
the glassy coating usually found on meteorites, he said.

The Weddles have heard from several other experts and called a few on their
own to try to find out what the rock is.

They have found themselves inundated with calls from the media, meteorite
hounds and the curious.

An Indianapolis television station offered to take the object to the Field
Museum or the Smithsonian Institution for further study, Bob Weddle said.

Shaffer said they were right to bring in experts so quickly. Scientists can
glean important details about space by studying "fresh" meteorites, he said.

For now, the Weddles are trying to manage the rock and its attention while
still managing to work on the home where they found it, said Bob Weddle, 51.
Received on Fri 12 Dec 2003 11:31:12 AM PST