Welding Slag

[Theakiki]

There is one field that I hunt arrowheads in, where I find what looks like slag from welding lying around in various areas.

I was wondering if this could possibly meteorite related. It just seems out of place to me.

 

[distimpson]

While searching for meteorites we've found slag just about everywhere, areas you would swear no human had ever been before. Always wondered where it came from. In the last couple years, a few old timers have come to the museum and at least in Kansas, some of the slag comes from steam engines used to run threshers and other equipment in the field. Every August in Haviland, Ks there is the thresher show, they run the old equipment using a honking big belt driven by the pto of a relatively modern tractor. Rock crusher, monster size tree saw and thresher are usually “fired up”, pretty cool to watch. Never seen a big steam engine running, but I think this explains some of the stuff.

But we have also found slag in desert areas that have never been farmed, no idea were this comes from, anybody?