[meteorite-list] Re: Any Meteorites of Earth Origin?

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:47:10 2004
Message-ID: <200111122024.MAA06575_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

>
> The big question - what would "terrestrial meteorites"
> look like?

Good question. I always assumed that there were Earth meteorites, but
they blended in so well with the Earth rocks so they were hard to detect.
There seems to be some debate on whether an Earth rock can be injected
into space relatively unscathed from an impact. Assuming they can, and
if they fall back to Earth as meteorites, they should look like Earth
rocks but with fusion crust. However, if they sit on the surface of
Earth for a while, they'll eventually lose their fusion crust due to
weathering. So, one would ask, is there a way to identify Earth meteorites
without fusion crust and differentiate them from other Earth
rocks? I imagine most Earth meteorites would fall
in that category, and thus, that may be why one haven't been found yet
(assuming tektites are not meteorites).

Ron Baalke
Received on Mon 12 Nov 2001 03:24:45 PM PST