[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Florida meteorite impacts?
Bo Widerberg schrieb:
> Hello, All:
>
> I was wondering if perhaps someone out there in the ether could
> provide me with any information on meteorite impacts (finds or falls)
> in Florida.
> Thanks in advance to all who can provide any information. - Bo
> Widerberg
Hello Bo, hello List!
There have been only 4 meteorite f i n d s in Florida so far:
1. Bonita Springs - H5
One stone of 41.8kg was found in Lee County in 1938, and recognized as
meteoritic in 1956 -- 26° 16' N / 081° 45' W
2. Eustis - H4
A stone of 502g was ploughed up in Lake Co. in 1918 -- 28° 50' N/081°
41' W
3. Grayton* - H5
A single mass of 11.3 kg was found near Grayton Beach in Walton County
in 1983. -- 30° 18' 42 N / 086° 10' W
4. Okechobee - L4
Fragments weighing about 1kg were brought up in a net some 0.75 miles
from the shore - Palm Beach County - 26° 41' N - 080° 48' W - some time
before 1916.
* POVENMIRE H. (1984) The Grayton Beach Meteorite (S&T, 1984 March, p.
204):
On October 30, 1983, two treasure hunters were searching for Spanish
armor at an ancient Indian midden near Grayton Beach, Florida. Using
metal detectors, P.W. Gibson and J.M. Green, M.D., found instead a
24-pound brown rock (9 by 71/2 by 7 inches) buried under three feet of
sand. Certain it was unnatural to the area, they contacted the Earth
Sciences department at Pensacola Junior College. Profs. W. Wooten, F.
Palma, and K. Exum suspected the rock was a meteorite and sent a piece
of it to me for examination.
At first glance the specimen looked not meteoritic but instead similar
to the ferrous sandstone nodules frequently found along our beaches.
But, after learning of the circumstances of the find, I started routine
tests, including a point-by-point comparison with several genuine stony
meteorites in the Florida Fireball Patrol’s collection. Eventually, I
classified the meteorite as an olivine-bronzite chondrite. Small pieces
were sent to G.I. Huss of the American Meteorite Laboratory and to the
British Museum for thin-section analysis. This resulted in a tentative
H5 classification, a fairly common type of iron-poor stony chondrite.
I visited the discovery site, and it soon became clear that the
meteorite had almost certainly been carried to the midden. Pottery
sherds found in the area date from the region’s "Wedden Island" culture,
which existed from about A.D. 350 to 1200, whereas the chondrite’s fresh
appearance suggests that it fell within the past several centuries. No
other meteoritic fragments were located.
This find will appear in the newest Catalogue of Meteorites, edited by
A. Graham. It will be named the "Grayton Beach meteorite" (HAROLD
POVENMIRE, Florida Fireball Patrol 215 Osage Dr., Indian Harbour Beach,
Fla. 32937).
... and, by the way, be careful with the word "impact" ;-)
Meteoriticists use this word only when there is a s i z a b l e
"hole" or even a "crater".
Thus, the NORTON COUNTY Ca-poor aubrite produced an impact hole (about
10 feet deep), though the main mass weighed about 1 ton.
The largest individual of the JILIN (H5) shower weighing 1770 kg
produced a considerable impact hole (about 20 feet deep) but not an
impact crater.
The Binningup (H5) chondrite (488 gr) landed within 4-5 metres of two
sunbathers on the beach and excavated an "impact pit" 30 cm in diameter
and 15 cm deep in soft sand.
Best wishes from cold, rainy, stormy, and overcast Germany,
Bernd
----------
Archives located at:
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/list_best.html
For help, FAQ's and sub. info. visit:
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing_list.html
----------
References: