jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 18, 2013 4:21:27 GMT -5
A meteor hit 30 years ago in a farm field a couple of miles away.A softball sized meteor was recovered. I found this on a logging road behind the house.A tile scratch test gave gray streak.My local hematites always give a rust colored streak.And this thing is heavy.Only slightly magnetic and no rust or corrosion,but a slight rust colored stain in areas.It has cystalline structure.It also looks melted. Any opinions would be appreciated.
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Feb 18, 2013 11:44:00 GMT -5
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 18, 2013 13:03:46 GMT -5
Not an expert by a long shot, but the crystaline structure doesn't look like any meteorite I've seen. The opposite face has been melted. No doubt about it. Is their, or has there ever been a foundry near where you found that piece ? Not saying that it isn't a meteorite. A high nickle content meteorite would explain the lack of rust. I'd suggest taking it to a nearby college, and letting them look at it. But don't let it out of your sight. A meteorite that size could be quite valuable.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2013 14:10:40 GMT -5
I agree with Don's suggestion. High nickel would also explain weak magnetism, but that molten puddling really doesn't look meteoric. Still, take it to a college or natural history museum to confirm.
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metalsmith
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Post by metalsmith on Feb 18, 2013 15:03:11 GMT -5
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Post by mohs on Feb 18, 2013 15:25:08 GMT -5
Unfortunately if you need money its probably not a meteor that been my experience at rock bottom basalt...mostly
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Minnesota Daniel
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Feb 18, 2013 17:06:28 GMT -5
If it is iron or iron ore, there are plausible explanations. Logging roads need to support heavy equipment, so heavy road aggregate is typically used in their construction. A lot of stuff can become road aggregate, including I imagine, old brick iron foundries when they are town down. Blast furnace slag/waste is often used in making concrete, and waste at concrete factories is typically used as road aggregate too.
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snuffy
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Post by snuffy on Feb 18, 2013 17:58:31 GMT -5
This looks similar to yours. I picked up a bucketful,was in the ballast on the railroad tracks.Slag. snuffy But dont toss it yet!! ;D
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 18, 2013 19:44:10 GMT -5
The road is a skidder trail.Logging road was a bad description.A not gravelled skidder trail 200 feet from the logging road that has no gravel either but a good many arrowheads.It does looks like slag but is way too dense.Looks like an exotic metal.It is about as heavy as a chunk of steel that size.People pick it up and it really surprises them how heavy it is.The second photo is glare but also metallic color.It's the heaviest density i have ever found.I don't think we have basalt. I live way back in the woods.The Teal family ran cattle back there for several generations
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Post by helens on Feb 18, 2013 19:49:28 GMT -5
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Post by Pat on Feb 18, 2013 22:08:54 GMT -5
I sure hope so. It's an interesting specimen if not.
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Minnesota Daniel
freely admits to licking rocks
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Feb 18, 2013 23:38:32 GMT -5
I was talking about big rock that might have been used under the road surface - the subcourse, not the gravel on top. I've seen a million skid trails (I'm a forester), so I know what you mean now. Whatever it is, it was probably dropped there by someone who found elsewhere in the sale.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2013 16:22:07 GMT -5
[tongue firmly in cheek] I can say with the greatest surety that this is not a meteor. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MeteoroidPerhaps you are enquiring as to wether this is a meteorite or not.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite That, I cannot say. No clue, sorry buddy. [removing tongue from cheek]
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 19, 2013 21:34:16 GMT -5
OK I am starting to freak out.I just read in Chuck's link about meteorite ID.It displaces 1.05 cups of water which is 242.5 milliliters.It weighs 816 grams.Divide that into that and get 3.36.Is that not specific gravity?Here is a quote from Randy L. Korotev at Dept. of Earth Science,Washington U. at St Louis: Here are two look-alike rocks, each about 6 inches across. One of the rocks is a meteorite, the other is a meteorwrong (click on image for enlargement). The meteorite has a specific gravity of 3.4; the meteorwrong has an specific gravity of 4.5. The meteorite is magnetic; the meteorwrong is not. The meteorite leaves only a weak streak; the meteorwrong leaves a dark reddish streak. The meteorite has a fusion crust on the side facing us. The meteorwrong has a shiny surface that looks something like a fusion crust, but is not. Though hard to see in the photo, the meteorite has regmaglypts but the meteorwrong does not. If we were to cut the rocks in two, the meteorite would have an interior that is grayer (less red) than the surface and it would have shiny metal grains because it is an ordinary chondrite. The meteorwrong would be rusty red throughout because it is a hematite concretion. It is impossible to identify a meteorite from a photograph. Many Earth rocks look like some meteorites. Some meteorites look a lot like Earth rocks. (The rock on the left is the meteorite). All this info came from the link above and thanks Hardrockcafe Chuck meteorites.wustl.edu/meteorwrongs/meteorwrongs.htmI am sending pics to Mr Korotev.Will keep you posted.
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 19, 2013 22:02:17 GMT -5
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 19, 2013 23:01:27 GMT -5
Thanks for that info Mr Don.The pics are of sliced/sawn meteors.On the Georgia site they sawed every one of them.I hope the guy responds at Washington University.That site has a lot of 'not meteors'.But the melted spot on this rock looks like a fusion crust-big time.So, i got 4 biggies 1 Fusion looking crust 2 3.4 spec grayity 3 Magnetic 4 gray and very lite streak test.My local hematite leaves brown streak w/little drag pressure
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 19, 2013 23:23:31 GMT -5
Good luck. I hope it is a meteorite. One that size should be worth several thousand dollars. To get top dollar, you're going to need to know what type it is, (and there are several dozen different types of meteorites). If by type it can be tied to the one that fell nearby, that will increase the value because its fall time can be determined. Any extra info you can gather will increase the value. And then find a good auction house that specializes in things of that sort. Don't try to sell it yourself. You'll loose money, and possibly have the piece stolen from you.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 19, 2013 23:43:45 GMT -5
My neighbor will know all about the meteor that hit years ago.But i am going to keep this to myself.It is a great place for me to metal detect if i score.This looks like a wedge removed from a 15-20 inch diameter ball,and the 3 layers of crystal looking material are on a similar radius.Thanks for those tips.Sounds like you speak from experience Mr Don.Do you remember discussing this rock several months ago?You taught me how to do a streak test.
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metalsmith
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Post by metalsmith on Feb 23, 2013 13:23:22 GMT -5
Well I wish you luck and hope for your sake you are right. However, just for the present I suggest you temper your enthusiasm with a small dose of alternative possibilities other than alternate reality.
Basalt - as with some meteorites - is NiFe - a predominantly Nickel-Iron composition. The streak of a mineral is diagnostic, but the streak of a rock depends which mineral you sample on the streak. You could well get a number of streaks for any given rock. It is generally suggested that basalt streak is black / green, but if you hit an Fe rich location then the chance of your basalt drawing a red streak is a little greater than the chance of your rock being a meteorite.
Basalt has a SG of 2.5-3.1.
I'm not particularly 'up' on the properties of slag, other than I tend to know some when I see some. I don't think your sample has the internal structure of slag - more of basalt.
It will take some knowledge of meteorites and probably first hand observation if not sampling / testing to confirm either way.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 23, 2013 14:31:07 GMT -5
I hear you metalsmith.It is highly unlikely.I have lived here 25 years and worked the soil with a tractor for years.Got 4 creeks on the property and 5 or 6 little camps we find arrowheads on.Other than that it's boring quartz and granite/sandstone,occasional hematite.I don't think we have basalt.Hematite is my worst fear.And streak tests are tricky.The second i saw it i knew it was way off.I thought meteorite instantly cause it looked like one and so unique for the area. Hematite is the only ore looking material i ever see here.Nothing else is brown/black.I live in Atlanta and have great resources in the form of colleges.
A lot of suspicion about slag.I think there has never been anything but tractors,cows and ATV's back there.I did collect a few grams of material with a magnet at intervals of 100 feet away from the finding spot.Hard to draw conclusion.But there is metallic stuff,but very degraded as all iron does in our humidity.This thing has no degradation.So that's not right either. Am not getting my hopes up.If it is i want to find the rest of it;that would be fine.Thanks
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