[meteorite-list] Melrose Meteorite

From: bernd.pauli_at_paulinet.de <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:21:08 2004
Message-ID: <DIIE.0000005A00000D38_at_paulinet.de>

Hello Larry and List,

> "The only American meteorite to contain gold".

No, this is not quite true - at least Bayard is another American stone
meteorite that is reported to contain gold (although in much smaller
amounts):

HaH 237 (CB3b) - 0.14 ppm Au
Orgueil (CI) - 0.145 ppm Au
Bayard (L6) - 0.180 ppm Au
Melrose (a) (L5) - 0.30-0.32 oz. Au per ton

As for Melrose (a), see the interesting article by our
Russ Kempton in Joel Schiff's meteorite magazine:

KEMPTON R. (1998) Melrose (a) No 'ordinary' chondrite
(Meteorite!, Vol. 4-1, 1998, 26-27).

Russ's conclusion is as follows:

"While Melrose (a) is classified as an "ordinary" chondrite, the high
abundance of gold measured by Nininger indicates an u n e v e n
mixing of this element within the solar nebula and therein may lie
its contribution to meteoritics."

Best wishes,

Bernd

This meteorite has twice as much gold as what is considered to be "mineable amounts" ! ( ~.35 grams per ton for Melrose, ~.07g's per ton in ore is mineable).This is something of a surprise to me, as I was informed not long ago by a world reknowned representative of the meteorite community,(he's also a man of the cloth, hint) that there are not any meteorites with gold in them except in some irons, and they have only trace amounts.

Here's the question(s) ;
Melrose is a chondrite...Does the oxygen isotope match the fractionation line of the other chondrites? Is it on a line all its own? Or is it on the terestrial line with the Moon, Earth, and the aubrites? (Aubrites, an entirely different subject, no less interesting... how are they on the same O2 fractionation line as Earth and the Moon?)

Have any similar meteorites been found since then, anywhere? Am I to assume this is the one single example of a particular asteroid?

These observations, and the answers to these questions point to the obvious fact that we still have a very limited representation of the solar system in our meteorite collections, and that this science really is still in its infancy...many more discoveries are waiting in the lab, and in the field. I think that is part of the mystique that draws me to meteorites. In a world where it seems as if everything has been invented, documented, or discovered, the science of meteorites is ripe with opportunities! I think the Melrose meteorite proves that.

Happy Days & Starry Nights to All !
Larry

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Received on Wed 23 Jul 2003 02:48:00 PM PDT