The more general question is how we would distinguish a terrestrial meteorite found on Earth 9as opposed to one found in the lunar regolith). Unless it was an observed fall, the rock would have to have a fusion crust for us to notice it in the first place. It would have been exposed to cosmic rays (gauged by measuring its cosmogenic nuclides) and it should have the isotopic compositions of terrestrial rocks. Presumably, the rock would have been extensively shocked or completely melted for it to have been launched off the Earth to begin with. Interestingly, some studies have concluded that rocks blasted off of Mercury spend millions of years in independent heliocentric orbits before accreting once again with Mercury.
Alan Rubin Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics University of California 3845 Slichter Hall 603 Charles Young Dr. E Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 office phone: 310-825-3202 fax: 310-206-3051 e-mail: aeru...@ucla.edu website: http://cosmochemists.igpp.ucla.edu/Rubin.html -----Original Message----- From: meteorite-list-boun...@meteoritecentral.com [mailto:meteorite-list-boun...@meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Jim Wooddell Sent: Tuesday, April 8, 2014 2:53 PM To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] is it a meteorite So, let's say there is one.....a chunk of hematite. What tests could be performed to 1. Prove it was in Space. 2. Originally from Earth. ??? Radionuclide? Jim -- Jim Wooddell jim.woodd...@suddenlink.net http://pages.suddenlink.net/chondrule/ ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
