[meteorite-list] Just a Question

From: John Gwilliam <jkgdiver_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:53:59 2004
Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.20020202122944.0097f5e0_at_pop.primenet.com>

Mohamed,
May I suggest an explanation for your finding interesting rocks in an area
you claim has none?

Over the past 40 years, I've spent a lot of time collecting "interesting"
rocks during my travels around the western United States. While out hiking
or hunting, I've got a habit of picking up just about anything that looks
interesting or out of place. As the day wears on and my pack gets heavier,
I often reevaluate the effort it takes to carry some of the rocks and their
value to me. Many of them are often discarded along the trail many miles
from where I picked them up.

Here's an even better example.

I have a good friend who collected a trailer full of coprolite specimens
near Lake Powell (Utah) about 12 years ago. On his way home, one of the
wheel hubs on his trailer broke while he was still on a rugged dirt road
and about 50 miles away from the collection site. Not wanting someone to
steal his coprolite while he went for repair parts, he hid his load of
coprolite in a ravine a short distance off the road. Several days later,
when he returned with the parts, he found someone had stolen his
trailer. Now he had no way to haul away his precious cargo of
coprolite. As far as both of us know, the pile of coprolite is still
sitting in the ravine just waiting to be "discovered" by someone out
walking in the area. Remember now, this pile of coprolite is 50 miles from
the actual collection site and in a totally different geological
area. Whoever finds it might jump to the conclusion that the site in the
ravine is the actual place where it weathered out of the earth after 65
million year.

Their ignorance could allow them to make an incorrect assumption. Who
knows, they might even have a good enough imagination to decide they fell
from the sky.

There are a lot of different scenarios that can result in rocks being found
in places where they normally shouldn't be. Many, like erosion, can be
explained, but others cannot. Such is the case with your rocks. Just
because you can't, or don't, understand how they got to where you found
them, doesn't mean the only explanation is they fell out of the sky.

I understand your enthusiasm. Please divert some of it into getting
yourself educated about minerals and meteorites. Your time out in the
field will become a lot more productive.

Regards,

John Gwilliam

At 11:03 PM 2/2/02 +0400, DiamondMeteor wrote:
>Is it not very strange that I find so many meteowrongs in the same place?
>Some in the same meter square? In an area where no natural igneous rocks
>exist?
>
>I dont blame you, one day you will discover the value of these whatever they
>are.
>
>The sky is BIG, it can drop down anything.
>
>Take It Easy
>
>Mohamed
>================================
>
>______________________________________________
>Meteorite-list mailing list
>Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
>http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list

John Gwilliam Meteorites
PO Box 26854
Tempe AZ 85285
http://www.meteoriteimpact.com
Received on Sat 02 Feb 2002 03:08:02 PM PST