[meteorite-list] Road Worker Finds Canada's Second Largest Meteorite

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:02:25 2004
Message-ID: <200203061641.IAA00585_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/national/story.html?f=/stories/20020306/250387.html

Road worker finds Canada's second largest meteorite
Sat in garage for 4 years

Robin Summerfield
Calgary Herald
March 6, 2002

CALGARY - A rock that was found along a rural Manitoba road by the driver of
a grader and then sat in his garage for four years could answer questions
about the origins of the solar system.

The Elm Creek Meteorite, found about 100 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg,
is the second largest find in Canadian history.

Tom Wood happened upon the rock in August, 1997. He got down from his
machine intending to toss the rock aside, but decided to take it home.

"It was the weight of it that intrigued me. It was too heavy for a field
rock, for a normal rock, and it just seemed different. But I'm not a rock
person or a person smart enough to know when something's worth something. It
was just pure luck all the way through. I could have just as easily thrown
it in the ditch, or thrown it in the garbage," said Mr. Wood.

It stayed in Mr. Wood's garage, until a University of Calgary student held a
"bring in your rocks day" in nearby Carman, Man., last summer.

''I thought, 'I'm just going to take this darn old rock with me and see what
it is,' and it turned out to be a meteorite."

Student Dan Lockwood said he "flip-flopped" about its authenticity for three
weeks before taking it back to the university for confirmation: "The rock
was covered in dirt, but its density made it deserving of a wash and a
closer look," Mr. Lockwood said.

Mr. Wood now owns a meteorite worth an estimated $10,000.

"I'll probably sell, I guess. It's a little bit of an expensive rock to have
as a coffee-table thing. Maybe I'll make my wife a ring out of it," said Mr.
Wood with a chuckle.

University of Calgary researchers are now trying to determine its age and
composition.

"These additional studies are aimed at understanding conditions in the solar
nebula, the clouds of gas and dust where all meteorites, planets come from,
the origins of the solar system," said Dr. Alan Hildebrand, project leader
of the Prairie Meteorite Search.

He said radioactivity tests will be performed to determine whether the
meteorite was a piece of a larger meteor.
Received on Wed 06 Mar 2002 11:41:57 AM PST