[meteorite-list] Zagora "CR2" & "NWA 801"

From: dean bessey <deanbessey_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:10 2004
Message-ID: <LAW2-F171vZB56QqtgR0001673f_at_hotmail.com>

Last summer me and my friends Donald Okeefe and Rodrigo Martinez went to the
Imilac strewnfield in Chile. We found a few dozen little imilacs - mostly
small shrapnel. You would think that I was nuts if I asked the meteoritical
society for a name for each of my stones that I (we) found. We know what the
classification is, we know where it is at, and we know what the meteorites
look like - which is very different from any serounding rocks or other
meteorites that might be found there.
The same is true about the CR2 from zagora. It is a very different looking
rock from the serounding rocks. They are in fact so distinct that you dont
even have to cut them. They usually have nice brown desert varnich with
yellowish chrondrules showing on the outside. We also know exactly where
this strewnfield is at. In fact everybody in eastern Morocco knows where
this strewnfield is located. We all know that me and farmer went to the
strewnfield but there are other dealers who have been there also (Although I
wont mention anybody who havent publicly anounced what they have been up to
in the sahara because I wouldent want to interfere with anybodys marketing
operations) but several other dealers know exactly where the strewnfield is
at also. Last month I took coordinates from a point in the center of the
strewnfield which was where two wemon were searching for more stones with
meteorite canes when I entered the strewnfield. I beleive that Farmer
indicated that he planned to go back and map out the strewnfield better but
one coordinate is enough for me. My coordinates I took myself and they would
be suitable enough to give it a proper name if this strewnfield was in the
Atacama or North America. You can ask 500 locals from the area and they will
bring you to this strewnfield. There is nothing in doubt here. Here again is
my webpage with photos of the strewnfield:
http://www.meteoriteshop.com/cr2-strewnfield.htm
I have well over 50 meteorites from this strewnfield - most under two grams.
I know that if I really wanted to I could ask the meteoritical society for
50 NWA numbers for my meteorites but does that really make any sense to you
when we all know that they came from the exact same strewnfield, know what
the classification is, and know where the strewnfield is located?
Somebody mentioned gold basin. For everybodys info there are at least 6 new
meteorites from Gold Basin that are different and they have been given
different names - Walipi wash (I am sure I spelled that wrong) being one of
them. If a L6 was found in the CR2 strewnfield it would have a different
name. It would be pretty easy to recogonize. The CR2 is so different from
any other NWA that is currently floating around that there is no question
about what it is.
I dont see a reason to waste researcher time classifying every single one of
my 50 meteorites that came out of this strewnfield.
I could continue this email by talking about the CO3 strewnfield in Libya
which must have a million low TKW main masses from it that is officially
recogonized by the meteoritical society and is well known that they are all
from one fall but I wont do that. Other than to say that there is no point
to doing the same thing with the CR2.
I have made a request to the meteoritical society to dump all of the NWA
names and give the CR2 a real name (I sugested Zagora-B because I think that
Zagora is taken) but I dont know what they well decide. I guess that I could
name every single one of my 50 CR2 meteorites but basically, I dont want to
be bothered with the necessary record keeping. This is one of the most
significant meteorites to come out of the sahara and because it is all being
dumped on the market at once gives everybody the ability to afford a CR2
that was out of most peoples price range just a few months ago.
I know that we constantly get on about needing serious scientific study to
properly make pairings on meteorites and on certain meteorites (The libyan
SNC come to mind as an example) researchers care enough to put the effort
into doing that. But anybody who wants a meteorite classified knows that
there is no researcher time available to do this work. (If any researcher
wants to officially research each of my CR2s and get me the info within a
couple weeks so that I can sell them let me know - you know the chances of
that happening). This is basically due to lack of government funding rather
than non interest by researchers but the world that we currently live in
basically means that we are going to have to accept help from the dealers
for information who is trying to make money rather than get research papers
published - wither you like it or not (And I will be the first to admit
problems with this but I am not willing to wait 10 years to sell my
meteorites so that each one can be properly studied in a scientific
environment) but until we come up with something better we are going to have
to rely on dealer and hunter information. The CR2 has enough info to give it
a real name no matter how stringent the criteria that you use. I dont want
50 new NWA names for my meteorites when I know exactly what they are, the
classification, and where they are from.
But maybe if you can come up with a valid reason we can name each stone.
There are probably over 500 stones from this strewnfield. Lets block names
NWA1200 to NWA1700 to acount for the CR2 strewnfield in Morocco with the
coordinates N 30 19 53 4 and W 5 52 50 7.
Better yet, lets just call it Zagora-B (Or "C" for CR2 - or use the name of
some nearby mountain with a cool sounding name). Right now "The Zagora CR2
that is paired with NWA801" works for me on ebay. My customers know exactly
what they are getting when they buy those from me. To call it NWA801 like
some dealers are doing would be wrong. NWA801 refers to a very defined and
specific amount of the fall and a very specific amount of the mass. If
another 150 gram stone was classified it would be entitled to a new NWA name
with a total mass of 150 grams and a totally different main mass to go along
with it. If a new 150 gram one was named NWA1506 for example and it was not
cut it would have a main mass of 150 grams. We may know that it is paired
with NWA801 but it wouldent be a part of NWA801.
Hope that I havent pissed anybody off or stepped on anybodys toes with this
email. I know that the meteoritical society has a lot of record keeping (To
put it mildly) problems and I certainly dont envy their pretty much
impossible task that they are being asked to do but sometimes exceptions
have to be made and this is one of them.
Cheers
DEAN












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Received on Tue 26 Feb 2002 01:08:15 AM PST