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Doug,
The metal specks in the ground surface sure look right!
The strong rusting of the exterior makes the chances of fusion crust
preservation pretty remote. Even with one of the bloody little devils in
our hands, it takes a lot of soul searching to feel "sure", but based on a fuzzy
photo, I'd bet you have a winner.
In the natural mineral kingdom, the only likely
candidates for the speaker magnet test are magnetite, maghemite, and
pyrrhotite. The first two are already oxides, and don't rust as in your
pics. Pyrrhotite will rust, but on a polished surface is brassy to bronzy,
not gray. Man-made stuff is another ball of worms, but your textures don't
look synthetic.
Be sure and post the final "vote" tally!
Cheers,
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2003 9:31
PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteoright?
-photos
http://community.webshots.com/album/106219825vellHy
resend
with new link above (Thanks Mark, A, L, and others who wrote me asking for the
image)
OK, I have yet another try of posting photos, so this should
finally work. The following stone, basically teardrop shaped, 1 cm X 1
cm X 0.6 cm, or 1 cm X 0.6 cm X 0.6 cm depending how you measure, weighing in
the neighborhood of 1 g was found by me in a very desertic area, in a water
runoff that probably gets rained on once a year. It sticks to my OEM
poor quality speaker magnet, and jumps up to a stronger magnet with a
click. The surface has a distinctly rusty coating, though it appears
that a blackened layer may be under. It initially leaves a light rust
colored streak on the back of a ceramic tile but that seems to stop completely
as the outer oxidation is removed. I took it to the side of the cutting
surface of a home ceramic tile cutting wheel to make a window, which was
crude, so I smoothed with sandpaper. Neither before or after the sanding
was I able to see any green crystalline evidence, but the sanding brought out
shiny metal, intersperced in a gray matrix. Some rust remains on the
window as I didn't want to shave the pebble away. Whether there are
chondrules in the face I don't know, there appear darker spots, and I'd
appreciate it if the list can tell me if they see fusion crust, which I think
I see, but...I have no reference collectings and resident experts
around. I am pretty convinced that this one (of my 17 candidates is a
meteorite, but I could be biased. 15 of the other 16 are already
eliminated. Please give me a hand on this one. All pictures are of
the same stone, at the limit of my digital camera resolution. The true
color is in between the bright and shadow shot in Met-1. Is it?
Thanks!
Doug
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