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Re: Earth meteorites?
Hi Frank and Ron,
Ever since you mentioned Earth based meteorites, I too, think that they
are not beyond the relm of probabilaty. After researching this
phenomena, I have found a few interesting comments that I think warrent
farther investigation. According to Chuck Woods (Geologists from Nodak)
Most meteorites (that are from the inner solar system, excluding
asteroids) seem to have a cosmic exposure rate of only 5-8 million
years. While That may not prevent an Earth based meteor from being found
on earth it does narrow the field a bit. Since the last
meteoriod/asteroid collision that could possible produce a force large
enough to cause ejecter to break the pull of earth's gravity happened
about 65 million years ago near the Yuccatan Penn. (providing none
happened in the ocean since). The chances are next to phenominal that
they would still be in orbit being so close to our planet. They would
have surely reentered the atmosphere by now. The prospect that Earth
based meteoroids being found would be a significant find indeed. The
problems to overcome are weathering and the removal of the fusion crust
then it would have to be really out of place, but other forces could
cause a stone to be out of place. The chances of it being anything other
than Achondritic would be hard to swallow also due to plate tectonics
and the recycling of the earths crust. The heavy material has probably
already settled.
Like you Frank, I also think this warrants farther investagation.
Dan
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