[meteorite-list] Re: Desert Varnish

From: Rafael B. Torres <spacecollection2001_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:07:01 2004
Message-ID: <F35Ng34gosISp8rPCY000018809_at_hotmail.com>

Hello everyoneˇˇˇˇ..Ive been offline for two days and Ive seen this list
kinda quiet for now. There has been a topic in this list that I would like
to know about.
I live in the northern mexican desert, and Im quite familiar with desert
varnish in rocks and its appearance. I dont like desert varnish in normal
rocks cuz this makes impossible to look for meteorites around here, because
every rock around here seems to be covered with the black and dark desert
crust. Ive been fooled more than once thinking normal rocks are meteorites,
cuz from far away some rocks seem to be meteorites, even in huge sand dunes
where the sand is almost white and very fine. I dont know what causes desrt
varnish, Ive been told its from the radiation of the sun. The desert varnish
around here is like a fusion crust on meteorites, but it has rough texture
and opaque shine.

Desert varnish in meteorite I have from the Sahara desert seem like dark and
others are light red or orange. I think this in part is because of the
interior make up of meteorites, but if its desert varnish, why is it so
shiny and soft?, does anybody know what causes desert varnish in
meteorites?, and does it differ from desert to desert?. I think ths desert
varnish may have clues of the time the meteorite has spent in the Earth. So
this desert varnish is a sign of severe weathering on the meteorite or not?



            =0)
Rafael B. Torres
Space Collection 2001
http://www.geocities.com/rafael_blando


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Received on Tue 15 Oct 2002 10:45:52 AM PDT