[meteorite-list] Northwest Africa Falls - Question

From: Michael Farmer <meteoriteguy_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:52:54 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <293458.96647.qm_at_web110605.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

It is interesting, but I really think that the same amount of falls are happening elsewhere, but Africa is a hodgepodge of wars and problems, and meteorite falls are likely mostly ignored or just lost in the noise of Africa's various crisis.

It can not be denied that these falls are real, anyone who has seen a fresh Chergach, Bengerir, or Bensour, covered in soft crust and bubbles, many weighing less than 100 milligrams, these can not be from anything other than fresh falls. I have jars of tiny Bensour and Chergach stones all less than 1/4 gram.

I think these falls are recovered because there is hardly a person in Mauritania or Morocco that does not know about meteorites and the money they bring.

I give an example. NWA 801, it is a very rare and beautiful CR2. It is also found at the Zagora airport. This is just a dirt strip, but a large one. When I used to go there to buy pieces, I would be mobbed by people with stones, all wrapped in pieces of plastic bags that are stuck in every Acacia tree in the area. Old people, kids, all had found stones, and even as I searched in vain, they found stones near me. They all knew to sell them by weight, looking at my scale set up on the hod of the car. Some of these people were nomads, right out of National Geographic. No education, no home other than tents, but they knew that these were meteorites and that people like me paid well for them.
Anything that falls in NWA area will not go unnoticed!

Michael Farmer


--- On Sat, 1/17/09, Jeff Grossman <jgrossman at usgs.gov> wrote:

> From: Jeff Grossman <jgrossman at usgs.gov>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Northwest Africa Falls - Question
> To: "Meteorite-list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Date: Saturday, January 17, 2009, 3:27 PM
> Martin and list,
>
> Actually, there is something suspicious. Northwest Africa
> (the
> countries you listed plus Western Sahara and Tunisia) has
> seen between 0
> and 3 falls per decade from the 1900s through the 1980s.
> The 1990s saw
> 6, and the 2000s have now got 8. There is no parallel
> increase in the
> rest of Africa, which in fact has been steadily declining
> in fall rates
> since the 1940s. Europe has also been declining since the
> 1930s (in
> fall rates), as has North America. I think northwest
> Africa is the only
> place in the world that is seeing any kind of increase in
> rate, and it
> has been dramatic, tripling in the last decade.
>
> The are various sociological reasons why this increase
> might have
> happened, which we can argue about. But there certainly IS
> something to
> raise ones eyebrows.
>
> Jeff
>
> Martin Altmann wrote:
> > Hi Ryan,
> >
> > it's because of the iron mountain in Atlas, which
> still has to be found and
> > which attracts with his magnetic field all
> iron-bearing lumps from space.
> >
> > No. Take a World map, hold little Europe (forget a
> little bit about
> > Scandinavia),
> > hold it against that NWA region, Algeria, Mali, Niger,
> Morocco,
> > Mauretania....
> >
> > And let's count the falls:
> >
> > Let's start with Zag 1998.
> >
> > NWA-Regions:
> >
> > Zag 1998
> > El Idrissa 1998
> > Djoumine 1999
> > Beni M'hira 2001
> > Bensour 2002
> > Oum Dreyga 2003
> > Maigatari-Danduma 2004
> > Benguerir 2004
> > Bassikounou 2006
> > Chergach 2007
> > And now the new possible fall.
> >
> > Europe:
> >
> > Ourique 1998
> > Leighlinbridge 1999
> > Moravka 2000
> > San Michele 2002
> > Neuschwanstein 2002
> > Alby sur Cheran 2002
> > Villalbeto 2004
> > Moss 2006
> > Puerto Lapice 2007
> > Romanian Fall 2008
> >
> > 11 : 11.
> >
> > So nothing suspicious.
> >
> > USA had 7
> > India 10
> >
> >
> > Best!
> > Martin
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Ok Folks,
> >
> > I am curious to know why there are so many witnessed
> (recovered) meteorite
> > falls in Northwest Africa as opposed to anywhere else
> in the world. Is there
> > a good logical and/or scientifc explanation for
> this?.. or just a
> > coincidence? I understand that some "falls"
> simply turn out to be a case of
> > Nomadic lies in an attempt to liquidate (recycle) old
> material, but what
> > about the others? Perhpas it has something to do with
> it's geographical
> > location in relation to..?
> > And yes, I do understand these people spend countless
> hours outdoors, in the
> > desert, ect. but..
> >
> > What are your thoughts?
> >
> > Ryan
> >
> >
> >
> > ______________________________________________
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> >
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> >
> > ______________________________________________
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> >
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> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Dr. Jeffrey N. Grossman phone: (703) 648-6184
> US Geological Survey fax: (703) 648-6383
> 954 National Center
> Reston, VA 20192, USA
>
>
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Received on Sat 17 Jan 2009 05:52:54 PM PST