[meteorite-list] Secret Find/Fall Coordinates and Legitimacy - Someone help me understand this.

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:32:19 -0400
Message-ID: <e51421550910271632u5ff0bf32q6002f84f2fd71410_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi List,

Recently I was doing some research on various meteorites for an
article I am writing, and I noticed a few entries in the Met Bulletin
database that give all of the details about a meteorite, but then says
that the actual find coordinates are secret or being withheld.

Ok, I understand the motivations behind keeping a location secret.
These motives have been discussed on the List previously, as recently
as the new fall in Arizona that Dr. Schrader found - which
subsequently set off a flurry of espionage and intrigues to find the
fall which Dr. Jack was keeping secret. Granted. I can understand
the value of not having 200 amateurs running rough-shod over a new
strewnfield before it is properly documented. But, once the
strewnfield is mapped, and the team(s) working the field have packed
up and left with their specimens, what is the motivation for keeping
the exact location a secret? If the fall is known to science and
available to science (meaning, it has been classified and samples are
available for study), then why should the location be kept secret? Is
it financial reasons, so the original finders can come back on
subsequents trips and deplete the strewnfield for their own
inventories? Or, is it because the location is on someone's private
property and the owner has requested that the exact location be kept
secret to prevent a flood of trespassers? If the latter, then how
does this explain the secret coordinates of the NWA desert finds -
some of which are ordinary chondrites out in the open desert that were
catalogued over 10 years ago. Why are these still being withheld?

It seems to me, that science (and institutions) should not recognize
meteorites whose find/fall locations are being kept secret
intentionally without good explanation - doing so would encourage
profiteering and damage the availability of specimens for scientific
study and private collectors. If finders wanted to have their falls
officially classified (and reap the benefits of legitimacy that comes
from recognition and inclusion in meteorite catalogues), then they
should have to divulge the coordinates of their finds. Wouldn't that
take away some of the incentive to keep these locations secret where
the only motivation to do so is personal profit?

I don't want to strike a nerve here or touch off a big debate, I just
want someone to explain to me the reasoning behind anonymous find
locations (not because the location is unknown, but because it is
being withheld) being accepted into the Meteoritical Society database?

Best regards,

MikeG

-- 
.........................................................
Michael Gilmer (Florida, USA)
Member of the Meteoritical Society.
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Received on Tue 27 Oct 2009 07:32:19 PM PDT