[meteorite-list] When the Sahara was wetter (relevant to your interests)

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:26:31 -0400
Message-ID: <tcuga49513t61reaebhghl6qqq13e30stl_at_4ax.com>

On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:13:18 EDT, you wrote:

> I too have considered the effects of a wetter sahara and how it affected
>meteorites.It is unreal how many meteorites comes out of that desert and all
>the others seem to only give up a few.I am glad they do come out and give us a
>chance to study and compare to the pitiful little earth rocks we find.

My meteorite collecting (and, really, awareness that there even is a meteorite
collecting market) began after the Sahara "gold rush" started, and my collection
strongly reflects that. How old those really weathered meteorites coming out of
NWA are is interesting (and a data point in determining fall rate). I already
knew that the Sahara was much wetter in the past-- but a data point that it was
much wetter as recently as 4,500 years ago is interesting-- and I would think it
would push the possible age for the weathered meteorites forwards (some, I
believe, have been estimated to be 10s of thousands of years old).
Received on Sun 17 Aug 2008 03:26:31 PM PDT