[meteorite-list] Northwest Africa Meteorites a blessing, or omen?

From: meteorites_at_space.com <meteorites_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:52:11 2004
Message-ID: <20020811104003.9407.h014.c000.wm_at_mail.space.com.criticalpath.net>

In long overdue "cleaning of house" (my very cluttered
e-mail box) I re-read this.

I think the topic and the point made is quite valid.

NWA's have done much to broaden general collector
interest, and some very, very rare and fine specimens
have been brought to light in the effort.

These rare ones, such as NWA482, NWA032, and the
martian meteorites, as well as achondrites have been
identified and classified.

However the vast majority of those deemed "common
chondrites" have not.

And the trade of these as "meteorites" (which to those
that can recognize them) has both provided cheap
material to the beginning collector, and at the same
time brought up some problems.

These problems involve identification and
classification.

Previously, before the flood of NWA's, newly discovered
meteorites were always submitted to members of the
Meteoritical Society, who did the tests and
classifications, then submitted the data to the
Nomenclature Committee for official listing in the
Meteoritical Bulletin, which would then be collated
into revisions of the Catalog of Meteorites.

But with the flood of NWA's and others, this is no
longer the case.

And I think that it opens the doors for "other labs"
and individuals to make claims regarding rocks that
they have found, and had "tested."

Often I get specimens from individuals with extensive
assay analysis sheets. The persons are fully convinced
that the data indicates a meteorite, and they have made
their submissions to me to "verify the results"-- which
I cannot.

And moreover, it has been in everyone of those
instances apparent to me that the sample in question is
not a meteorite.

One such person was so convinced by the mineral assay
that the paid someone to do, that they insured and
registered the sample for $25,000, calling it the
"Jenny Lee Meteorite."

It was iron sulfide-- not a meteorite.

The bottom line, is that technically a meteorite is not
a meteorite "officially" until classified by a member
of the Meteoritical Society.

But the problem of unclassified NWA's remain, and many
members of the Meteoritical Society no longer will do
extensive analysis of NWA's unless they can be assured
of exact location for pairing, and other details of
find and recovery-- unless they prove to be ultra rare
lunar or martian ones.

And the others the "common" ones are tossed to the wind.

Creating a wealth of cheap material for the entry
collector, but a problem for meteorite science as a
whole.

And this could complicate matters should these become
lost in places far from the places of origin, only to
be re-discovered.

What will happen then, should these be submitted as a
"new" find?

Steve Schoner

 


On Tue, 12 February 2002, "Edward Hodges" wrote:

>
> While at Tucson I noticed a huge number of
unclassified
> NWA's for sale. Some
> lots were going for as little as $0.35 a gram. I
> noticed many people buying
> unclassified specimens. To me an unclassified
meteorite
> is just a rock,
> basicilly worthless. Of course it is a meteorite, and
> it might even be a
> fairly rare one at that. Still, it is of no scientific
> importance yet.
> Meteorite values are determined by weight,
> classification,fusion
> crust,orientation, and special circumstances (e.g. one
> killed a dog, or
> cow), sometimes the odd shape may up the value,
> etc..What does an
> unclassified meteorite's have going for it other than
> fusion crust and
> weight? So, should I assume that the starting prices
> for an UNWA with
> complete crust is $0.35? Doesn't buying one of these
> help science, or hurt
> it? After all, we all know that they are haphazardly
> collected by poor
> nomads, probably their only source of income. Still
> more are collected by
> greedy westerners with dollar signs in their eyes.
> Almost no data is
> available on these rocks (e.g. locality, TKW, how many
> stones were found,
> etc.), most pairings are lost, and the strewnfields
> will never be studied.
> This for me defeats the whole purpose of collecting
and
> studying meteorites.
> The data tells the story of the rock, which is the one
> of the most
> interesting parts. Am I the only one who thinks this?
> Does anyone else agree
> that by buying UNWA's that you are contributing to the
> dumbing down of the
> science involved, and feeding the ego's of greedy
> Westerners who are only
> interested in your dollar? I can already hear the
> responses this email will
> get. Just remember that is is better to appear a fool,
> than open one's mouth
> and remove all doubt. This is a serious topic that
will
> eventually affect
> the whole science, and market of meteorites. If you
> want to slam what I have
> to say, that is your right. Just as it is you right to
> act civil, and stop
> to think for a moment.- Edward R. Hodges
>
>
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Received on Sun 11 Aug 2002 01:39:58 PM PDT