Meteorites

[bman3725]

Are all meteorites magnetic

 

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[Terry Soloman]

No, not all are magnetic.. How To Identify A Meteorite

 

[bman3725]

Any ideas? It was found near a known debris field from the 1950's

 

[Terry Soloman]

Looks like Basalt in the photo. Very hard to tell.

 

[bman3725]

Basalt? What's that friend? This thing is very porous holes in it and all ....very weird

I added some better photos. If this was found closer to civilization I would have already chunked it, but its from a sight I've been gold panning.

 

[bman3725]

Ok looked it up. Not possible in this location. Any other ideas? Couldn't have come from someones grill or flower bed either and also the closest volcano to me is Yellowstone lol which is over 1000 miles or so

 

[Terry Soloman]

Could be a big hunk of magnatite, just don't know but it is not a meteorite.

 

[bman3725]

Ok thanks Terry for the input

 

[Tuberale]

I agree with Terry: unlikely. While most meteorites are magnetic (think stainless steel magnetic), some are not. Those are the most difficult to identify, and the most expensive as well. If not a witnessed fall, very unlikely to find these. One of these hard-to-identify meteorites is the Washougal, Washington meteorite that fell July 2, 1939. Called a Howardite. Try looking it up. Largest piece recovered was about 8 ounces (225 grams according to The Meteoritical Society). One of the rarest meteorites ever. Had a total of only 14.22% iron, and was calcium rich. According to finder, was like a piece of pumice. Estimated to be travelling 130,000 mph when heard/seen/felt above Portland, Oregon, just seconds before it hit.

 

[bman3725]

Wow that is interesting I did read up on it.
I live in the town where the only person in recorded history to ever be hit by a meteorite. The Hodges meteorite. Back in the 50's the lady was taking a nap on her couch when the meteor crashed through her roof, bounced off a piece of furniture then struck her on the upper thigh. It was about the size of a football. Its in the Smithsonian now. I imagine the debris field had to be something.

 

[TerryC]

I don't think a meteorite has ever been found that was porous. Bubbles of gas, your rock, probably came from a volcano. A common meteorwrong. Sorry. TTC

 

[bman3725]

Its not volcanic unless someone packed it into the area it was found. I found it miles from the closest road. Although millions of years ago there may have been a volcano in Alabama I don't know. Needless to say its a weird rock especially finding it where I did. I gave up on trying to figure it out.

I do by the way have a meteor that I found recently that could be part of the Hodges meteor (the only meteor to hit a human) I found it exactly 50 feet from the site of the home Ms Hodges lived in. Its at a local university at this time .

 

[TerryC]

From www.meteorite.com :If the rock is broken it will be solid inside. It will not be porous like lava rocks are. It may have small round structures like tiny balls showing on the broken surface. These are called chondrules and many stone meteorites (the chondrites) will have them. But it will not have holes inside if it is a meteorite...
...But furnace slag is often porous and meteorites are not.

 

[bman3725]

Yeah I gave up on that stone that had the holes through it. I put it up for the next visit I make to the local university geological dept. I have 2 there with them now. One is very historically significant

 

[TerryC]

Yeah I gave up on that stone that had the holes through it. I put it up for the next visit I make to the local university geological dept. I have 2 there with them now. One is very historically significant

Good work, Bman. Sorry if my above post sounded too "know it all". Most of my meteorite knowledge comes from books and Tnetters like "The Tube" (Tuberale). I don't have any M's except micrometeorites. I have been to Gold Basin, AZ to look once but found none. I have been ammasing much info about meteorites and will some day find one (probably as a sideline to detecting for gold). Take care. TTC

 

[bman3725]

Hey no problem Terry. That's why I joined this community for information and advise. Im also a gold hound like you but I like to find anything that looks interesting valuable or not. That's why the porous rock had me baffled I found it so far out its just amazing to me

 

[strickman]

bman, never what you might find there . look up when the stars fell on Alabama. you might have found a non typical.there were a lot .

 

[bman3725]

Thanks for the tip Strickman

 

[Tuberale]

I *think* what Strickman was referring to was the so-called "Night the Stars Fell", which happened November 10-12, 1833 (see THE NIGHT THE STARS FELL - A LECTURE BY JOHN HORRIGAN). The phenomenon occurred on both coasts of the US. The annual Leonid meteor shower is the remnant of the Tempel-Tuttle comet breakup (see above). As comets are mostly frozen methane gas with a few other gases and some dust thrown in. Thousands of fragments lit up the sky for hours. Some said it was possible to read a newspaper by the light given off. No recoveries are known.

 

[Dixiegal]

I would caution anyone about taking their meteorites to a University. My fiancee' found a large rare earth meteorite out in Washington State and he was offered about $35,000 for it. It weighed about 25 plus lbs. He took it to the Univ of Wash to get it looked at so he could ascertain value. Months later after repeated phone calls etc from him to the Univ about picking it back up he went over in person to retrieve his meteorite. They told him it was a rare earth type so rare and valuable that a private person should not have it because it was too valuable to science. He had to call his attorney and file a lawsuit agains't them.

When they finally got to court they were just as arrogant to the judge about it. He asked their attorney's if they still had the meteorite and they hesitated then finally said they had some of it. So the judge said to bring it up to the bench so he could look at it. They produced a small thin rectangular piece of it and said that was all that was left. They had cut it up into samples and shared it around with a bunch of other universities. Then they produced paperwork where they had forged my fiancee's signature on a box on their receipt that said it was OK to basically cut pieces off of it. The judge was not amused. He finally awarded my fiancee' more than the original offer and his attorney has a judgment agains't the univ of WA but they won't pay so they have put a lien on some of the univ property in case they ever try to sell but long story short he is probably never going to see a dime from that great find.

So beware the University if you think you have a rare one.