[meteorite-list] Meteorite May Have Been Found In Canada

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:21:10 2004
Message-ID: <200307291932.MAA29749_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.shorelinebeacon.com/story.php?id=69015

Meteorite may have been found

It seems that the beach in Southampton is a magnet for historical and valuable finds.

By Christine Brandt
Shoreline Beacon (Ontario, Canada)
July 30, 2003

Shoreline Beacon - It seems that the beach in Southampton is a magnet for historical
and valuable finds.

Last week, a 16-year-old Chesley Lake youth picked up what may be a meteorite. Not
wishing to be identified unless his find proves to be authentic, the rock could be the
second meteorite discovered in the town in three years.

In order to determine whether the rock is a meteorite, it will have to be examined
microscopically by scientists at the University of Western Ontario in London.

However, Dr. Bill Fitzgerald of the Tiverton area, who has a PhD in archeology,
examined the rock himself at the Bruce County Museum and Archives July 22. While
neither astronomy or geology are his specialities, he thought enough of the rock to
encourage the teen to have it analyzed in London.

"I'm not obviously qualified to comment on what it was but the thing with meteors is the
weight is disproportionate to the size. And this thing is heavy," he said, guessing the
rock weighs between 4.5 and 6.8 kilograms (10 to 15 pounds).

Fitzgerald said a normal rock of this size would exert some energy to lift, but not as
much as what is required to lift this particular rock.

"If it feels heavier than it should (it's likely a meteorite). And if it is... they're
very rare."

In 2001, Carl Young, a summer resident of Port Elgin, found a meteorite on the
Southampton beach. Following tests carried out by retired professor Neil MacRae
at Western, the 2.5 kilogram (5.5 pound) rock was identified as possibly belonging
to a Brenham pallasite meteorite that fell in Kansas in 1882. Parts of this famous
meteorite, which weighed over a tonne, have been sold around the world.

Young's meteorite was estimated to be worth as much as $100,000, or $40 per gram.
Fitzgerald said the condition of the latest find in Southampton looks as though it
had been partially molten, perhaps from entering the earth's atmosphere or as a
result of volcanic action on earth.

"It's definitely not your run-of-the-mill igneous or metamorphic rock you'd find on
the beach," he said. "Those things stand out like a sore thumb."

The rock is oblong in shape, about a foot long, six inches wide and four inches deep.
Black in color, it has some shiny specks that resemble nickel embedded in its surface,
which is covered with little craters.

The teen hopes to take the rock to Western sometime this week but it is unknown how
long tests will take.
Received on Tue 29 Jul 2003 03:32:07 PM PDT