[meteorite-list] Lovina Iron

From: Fries, Marc D <Marc.D.Fries_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:49:07 -0800
Message-ID: <C7A96323.102C2%Marc.D.Fries_at_jpl.nasa.gov>

What a beautiful meteorite! My first take on it is that it must have
crystallized directly from a melt. The pyramidal forms looks like dendrites
complete with a preferred orientation. Dendrites do not form in solids like
Widmannstatten patterns do ? they form by solidification from a liquid. If
that?s what we?re looking at here and not just some sort of
corrosion-etching effect, then it appears that this solidified directly from
an iron/nickel melt without significant recrystallization afterwards. It
will be fun to see what comes of this. I think we all know that photographs
never tell the whole story.

Cheers,
Marc Fries


On 2/22/10 11:31 PM, "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

> I think what we all assume, just from looking at
> the remarkable photograph, is that these pyramids
> are the taenite portion of the meteorite and that
> sea water, oxygen, UV light, and all the agents of
> weathering has eaten the kamacite away entirely
> to miraculously reveal it.
>
> Both iron phases, taemite and kamacite, are
> isometric-hexoctahedral crystals, which is a
> fancy geometry term for a unit crystal shaped
> like two four-sided pyramids fitted base-to-base.
> More commonly this is called a "cubic" crystal.
>
> The "pyramids" in Lovina are "step" pyramids. I'm
> guessing that the height of those "steps" corresponds
> to what would be the width of the Widmanst?tten
> bands if the original structure were in place and
> we could slice and etch it.
>
> It is a remarkable chance to "look inside" the crystal
> structure of an iron meteorite in three dimensions
> and with "x-ray" vision. What it shows is something
> I don't think any imaging technique could ever
> produce.
>
> I'm not a petrologist, you understand, just an old
> physicist and anything bigger than an atom (like
> crystals) is above my pay grade. These are just
> my guesses.
>
> It certainly is pretty, though.
>
>
> Sterling K. Webb
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeff Kuyken" <info at meteorites.com.au>
> To: "Meteorites USA" <eric at meteoritesusa.com>;
> <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 12:45 AM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Lovina Iron
>
>
> While I don't actually know (so don't assume it's anywhere near correct)
> I
> would presume the pyramidal feature is a result of weathering in the
> tropical climate exposing the crystalline structure of the meteorite and
> it's different minerals. (i.e. kamacite, taenite, etc, etc.) I would
> also
> assume the extremely high nickel content helped the whole thing from
> pulling
> a Nantan and allowing this to occur.
>
> Does anyone actually know how this occured?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jeff
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Meteorites USA" <eric at meteoritesusa.com>
> To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 4:30 AM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Lovina Iron
>
>
> I second that question... This is perhaps the oddest looking meteorite
> I've seen.
>
> It appears to have some sort of mineral growth attached to it. Perhaps a
> mineralization which formed the crystalline pyramidal structures. The
> structures show no sign of ablation at all and appear to be too fragile
> to have survived atmospheric entry in such pristine shape. What are we
> looking at in those structures?
>
> Regards,
> Eric
>
>
> On 2/22/2010 6:51 AM, Jeff Kuyken wrote:
>> Agreed! Great news and easily the most interesting looking meteorite
>> I've ever seen!
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Matthias B?rmann"
>> <majbaermann at web.de>
>> To: "Jim Strope" <nwa482 at comcast.net>; "Meteorite Central"
>> <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 1:47 AM
>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Lovina Iron
>>
>>
>>> Thanks, Jim, Darryll - as I already mentioned: simply incredible.
>>> Should have been found in the treasure of an old Aztec pyramide. (But
>>> Indonesian beach is okay too ;-)
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>> Matthias
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Strope" <nwa482 at comcast.net>
>>> To: "Meteorite Central" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>>> Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 3:21 PM
>>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Lovina Iron
>>>
>>>
>>>> Listees......
>>>>
>>>> There was a lot of discussion at the Tucson show about the Lovina
>>>> Iron Meteorite found in Indonesia in 1981. It was first determined
>>>> to be a meteorite, a very unusual meteorite in appearance. Then
>>>> news came out that it was possibly not a meteorite. Anyway, the
>>>> partslices looked so cool that I got one off of Darryl Pitt in
>>>> Tucson. I knew full well that the jury was still out.
>>>>
>>>> Well, just received news this morning from Darryl that it is now
>>>> back to being a meteorite.
>>>>
>>>> Check out the photo of Lovina before cutting:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.macovich.com/imagesOct2909/Lovina_large.jpg
>>>>
>>>> I bet everybody that got a piece of this will be really stoked.
>>>> Congrats Darryl.
>>>>
>>>> Jim Strope
>>>> 421 Fourth Street
>>>> Glen Dale, WV 26038
>>>>
>>>> http://www.catchafallingstar.com/
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>>>
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>>
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Received on Tue 23 Feb 2010 01:49:07 PM PST