Is this a Meteorite?

[solidphp]

My son found this on the beach the other day.

Here are the specs:

Weight: 1.43Kg
Width: 4-6" depending on where you measure
Height: 2"
Depth: 2-3" depending on where you measure


Here are all the pictures (including org. sizes): http://www.spbas.com/tmp/meteorite/

Here are a few previews:

I'm completely new to this, but it seems to have meteorite attributes! What do you guys think? Is it a real meteorite?

TIA,
Andy Rockwell

 

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[scotto]

If I had to guess, I'd say nope. Try the magnet test?

 

[solidphp]

If I had to guess, I'd say nope. Try the magnet test?

The white thing in the picture above is a magnet. It's to our child locks on the kitchen cabinets. It's got a strong enough attraction that it sticks.

 

[scotto]

Well there's always the chance that it could be......need to have it tested. There are places that can do it for you, if you can't bring it in, then you may need to cut a piece of it off to send it to them for testing. Good luck.

 

[solidphp]

Well there's always the chance that it could be......need to have it tested. There are places that can do it for you, if you can't bring it in, then you may need to cut a piece of it off to send it to them for testing. Good luck.

Can you you (or anyone reading) recommend someone to test it?

 

[allen_idaho]

There are a couple of tests you can do yourself. Although this probably isn't a meteorite.

Test #1: The magnetic test. This one you have already confirmed. So it might be a meteor or it might just be an iron or magnetite bearing rock.

Test #2: Streak Test. What you can do is grab the toilet lid off the back of your toilet. Get an exposed piece of your rock and streak it vigorously across the inside of the lid. Now if it streaks red, you've got hematite. Grey/black and you've got magnetite. A meteor will NOT leave a streak.

 

[GopherDaGold]

What are the brown streaks?

 

[solidphp]

Test #2: Streak Test. What you can do is grab the toilet lid off the back of your toilet. Get an exposed piece of your rock and streak it vigorously across the inside of the lid. Now if it streaks red, you've got hematite. Grey/black and you've got magnetite. A meteor will NOT leave a streak.

Got Grey/black lines! So I guess it's magnetite.

 

[solidphp]

What are the brown streaks?

I think it's rust maybe? I'm really not sure what it is tbh.

 

[diggummup]

What are the brown streaks?

I think it's rust maybe? I'm really not sure what it is tbh.

It's a joke! Toilet lid- brown streaks- you know.
Welcome to Tnet, you'll meet all kinds here!

 

[solidphp]

haha! I get it now, that's pretty good

 

[GopherDaGold]

What are the brown streaks?

I think it's rust maybe? I'm really not sure what it is tbh.

It's a joke! Toilet lid- brown streaks- you know.

Welcome to Tnet, you'll meet all kinds here!

Yeah, sorry but I saw it and no one else jumped on it so I figured I'd better strike while the iron was hot,

Thanks diggummup and welcome to T-Net solidphp!

 

[Tuberale]

Are these all photos of the same rock? Photo #2 seems to show a rounded dome shape that has a brownish coating to it. The brownish coat could be a fusion crust (old, becoming rusted) that I don't see in most of the other photos.

Whatever you do, consider than the vast majority of meteorites are small. Is that your hand or your child's hand in the photo? If your hand, probably not heavy enough to be a meteorite. If your child's hand, it might be. The dimensions suggest it is smaller than an adult's hand.

I don't see the exposed stone in many of the photos. Could you post a series of photos turning the stone in the same direction by 90 degrees (1/4 turn) each time. Holding the stone in place is find for this. Would also like to see at least one photo of the exposed stone as close as possible.

 

[solidphp]

Sorry for the late reply!!! Been meaning to do this for quite some time now.

Are these all photos of the same rock? Photo #2 seems to show a rounded dome shape that has a brownish coating to it. The brownish coat could be a fusion crust (old, becoming rusted) that I don't see in most of the other photos.

Yes, it's all the same rock.

Whatever you do, consider than the vast majority of meteorites are small. Is that your hand or your child's hand in the photo? If your hand, probably not heavy enough to be a meteorite. If your child's hand, it might be. The dimensions suggest it is smaller than an adult's hand.

It was my Wife's hand. In the link below there's a 4 pics taken against a measuring tape.

I don't see the exposed stone in many of the photos. Could you post a series of photos turning the stone in the same direction by 90 degrees (1/4 turn) each time. Holding the stone in place is find for this.

There's 6 of these in the zip file link below.

Would also like to see at least one photo of the exposed stone as close as possible.

4 of these are included.


Here's a direct link to download the full size images, it was 17mb and too big to post here:

http://www.spbas.com/tmp/meteorite/full_size.zip

Let me know if you have any problems with it. There's 14 full size pics in there!

 

[S IL THer]

What are the brown streaks?

they are poopnatites

 

[Tuberale]

Sorry for the late reply!!! Been meaning to do this for quite some time now.

Are these all photos of the same rock? Photo #2 seems to show a rounded dome shape that has a brownish coating to it. The brownish coat could be a fusion crust (old, becoming rusted) that I don't see in most of the other photos.

Yes, it's all the same rock.

Whatever you do, consider than the vast majority of meteorites are small. Is that your hand or your child's hand in the photo? If your hand, probably not heavy enough to be a meteorite. If your child's hand, it might be. The dimensions suggest it is smaller than an adult's hand.

It was my Wife's hand. In the link below there's a 4 pics taken against a measuring tape.

I don't see the exposed stone in many of the photos. Could you post a series of photos turning the stone in the same direction by 90 degrees (1/4 turn) each time. Holding the stone in place is find for this.

There's 6 of these in the zip file link below.

Would also like to see at least one photo of the exposed stone as close as possible.

4 of these are included.


Here's a direct link to download the full size images, it was 17mb and too big to post here:

http://www.spbas.com/tmp/meteorite/full_size.zip

Let me know if you have any problems with it. There's 14 full size pics in there!

Finally looked at all the photos, including the close-ups of the interior.

In my opinion, I don't think this is a meteorite. But I can see small globules of what might be iron within the matrix. That would account for the magnetic properties.

Not quite heavy enough to be a probable meteorite. Also has a lot of white crystaline material in the matrix, which is pretty unusual for meteoritic material.

 

[solidphp]

Thanks Tuberale! I wrote in to the Geology department of our local university today. I'm thinking they might recognize it as some type of rock local to the area. I'll reply back when/if I get a response to my e-mail.

In any case, it's been fun trying to identify it and it's really got my Son's interest which is cool. Not to mention I found TreasureNet in the process Thanks to everyone who replied!!

 

[solidphp]

Here's the reply for anyone interested:

Andy, I don't know much about rocks since my specialty is mostly soils and sediments. So I passed your email along to ---- -----, the petrologist in our department. His response is attached below, basically looks like an igneous rock, volcanic in origin. There is no natural source nearby so the rock is probably a piece of a seawall/jetty or an old ballast stone used in shipping. Not extraterrestrial in origin though!

Hope this helps,
---- -----

"Looks like a porphyritic aphanitic volcanic rock. Large phenocrysts look like plagioclase. Because of their faint green coloration, I might suggesst plag -> epidote during metamorphism, making it a metavolcanic igneous rock. I would suggest due to the dark coloration that it might be a metabasalt or meta-andesite, but more felsic metadacite can also be dark colored. I'd suggest that it might be a piece of ballast stone??"