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

From: meteorites_at_space.com <meteorites_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:47:10 2004
Message-ID: <20011112210317.23975.cpmta_at_c000.snv.cp.net>

On Mon, 12 November 2001, Ron Baalke wrote:

>
> >
> > 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
>
>

Ah, but if the earth rocks ejected by asteroids had imparted to them the same, if not more energy than those from Mars, then we should find Maskelynite and or other shocked minerals that would separate them from "normal" earth rocks.

Steve Schoner


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Received on Mon 12 Nov 2001 04:03:17 PM PST