Will a metal detector pick up a meteorite if it landed in the ground?

[Africa]

On a friends farm he told me that a meteorite landed, he knows the area thus I would like to know if my machine will be able to pick up bits or the rock that landed.

Thankyou

 

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[desertfox]

Good question, and the answer is a resounding " YES " juat as long as it's close enough to the surface and within the capabilities of your detectors depth range. Good luck and you have a lot of hours hunting ahead of you if you are really going to try to find it!

Desertfox

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Yep, they sure will. Need any help?

 

[DanB]

yes yes, your metal detector will find the meteorite.........if it is laying on the ground.......but if it buried itself 6 ' under the ground then, I doubt it.....either way good luck.


db

 

[Africa]

I have not tried yet, but I have seen the area where it landed, will have a bash sometime, you can see this round area about 100m across where it landed, will keep you all updated.

Thankyou

 

[paseclipse]

Keep in mind not all meteorites can be picked up with a metal detector. If it left a crater like you say then there's no need to use a metal detector. Walk out to the crater, locate the meteorite (don't it touch yet), get a digital camera and take a picture of it right next to the GPS with the exact coordinates showing. Then pull the meteorite out of the ground and take another pic of the indentation with the meteorite right next to it. This gives the meteorite provenance and proves the exact location where it was found by documentating the recovery.

After getting it out of the ground, store it in a dry place and try to not touch and handle it as much as possible. If you want to touch and hold it wear some gloves or something because the oils from your hands can affect it. For storage keep it in a closed container with bags of desicant to keep it dry. You might also want to look into classification to prove it's a meteorite.

If it's fractured in anyway and it looks like it might have broke into other pieces, then there's a very good chance there will be others around.

Another thing- you might want to recover it ASAP since weathering can destroy it. The earths environment is considered a hostile environment for meteorites and oxidation starts to occur as soon as the meteorite enters into the earths atmosphere. The earlier a meteorite can be recovered the better.

I hope this helps, good luck!

 

[Africa]

Thankyou for all this info, this rock hit Africa a few years back, however I will go out and take a look anyway.

All the best