[meteorite-list] NP Article, 06-2000 Georgia Tektite found

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:18:24 2004
Message-ID: <OE77lm70rM3TbhyF2fP000058e0_at_hotmail.com>

Paper: Augusta Chronicle
City: Augusta, Georgia
Date: June 4, 2000

Boy finds rare space rock

By Robert Pavey

Daniel Brown knew there was something odd about the disc-shaped stone he
plucked from a sandbar in the Savannah River.

``It was, well, just different,'' the Washington County 11-year-old said.
``So I picked it up and I kept it.''

The greenish-black rock later was identified as a rare meteorite - called a
tektite - that occurs in only a few places on Earth, including Georgia. It
was also the first one found in Augusta.

``To me, it looked like a melted piece of plastic,'' said Daniel's
grandfather, Larry Sheppard, who was fishing with Daniel when the tektite
was found below New Savannah Bluff.

Tektites, composed of dense glass, are tiny pieces of a puzzle that date
back 34.5 million years, said Hal Povenmire, a Cape Canaveral, Fla.,
scientist who has authored several books on Georgia's tektites.

The rocks are remnants of some catastrophic event that occurred long ago
over what is now Georgia, he said. About 1,500 tektites have been found
during the past 30 years, mostly in Bleckley and Dodge counties.

``Daniel's find is extremely significant because it extends the limits of
the Georgia tektite field another 40 or 50 miles,'' Mr. Povenmire said.
``It's the most eastern, and the most northern, Georgia tektite ever
found.''

Despite decades of often spirited debate, the origin of the unusual rocks
remains uncertain.
One theory is that an asteroid struck Earth 34.5 million years ago, hurling
debris with such force that it spiraled into space and re-entered the
atmosphere as liquid-hot meteorites.

One theory holds that Georgia's tektites originated with volcanoes on the
moon that erupted with sufficient energy to force the material past the
moon's gravity and into Earth's atmosphere.

``Even though it seems fanciful, and is hard to conceive of, that is the one
that is probably correct,'' Mr. Povenmire said, adding that discoveries such
as Daniel's might someday help solve the mystery.

Daniel's tektite was the subject of a paper Mr. Povenmire presented March 11
during the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference at NASA's Lyndon B.
Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Daniel, meanwhile, plans to keep his find - and keep an eye out for others.
``I hope I find some more,'' he said. ``I'll keep looking.''

Daniel learned the identity of his unusual find after contacting Bobby
Strange, an Oconee, Ga., furniture maker who studies and searches for
tektites as a hobby.

``It's one of the rarest things you'll ever find,'' Mr. Strange said. ``And
this one's probably the most famous one in Georgia,''

Georgia tektites typically average 8 to 10 grams, but Daniel's disc-shaped
specimen is a whopping 30 grams (about an ounce), Mr. Strange said.

The largest collection of Georgia tektites is owned by the Fernbank Science
Center in Atlanta, Mr. Strange said.

Tektites are found in three other places on Earth, Mr. Povenmire said.

One field stretches from Southeast Asia into Indochina and Australia, but
those tektites are a mere 770,000 years old. Other fields, which are 1.1
million years old, are along Africa's Ivory Coast. And 15 million-year-old
specimens have been found in Czechoslovakia, he said.

Mr. Povenmire said he would like to examine and photograph any suspected
tektites people might find. ``If you find a glassy object that appears black
on the ground but appears greenish when you hold it up to light, I hope
you'll contact me,'' he said.

Mr. Povenmire can be contacted at CENSORED (I'll let Povenmire post his
phone number if he wants..:-)
Received on Mon 03 Feb 2003 11:50:29 PM PST