[meteorite-list] Cold hunting

From: mark ford <markf_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:29:53 2004
Message-ID: <6CE3EEEFE92F4B4085B0E086B2941B3101435F_at_s-southern01.s-southern.com>

I suspect most meteorites bury themselves on impact to just below the
surface in soft sand/dirt so, I think the rate of 'soil covering' will
make the difference, a dry desert soil is generally eroded away by winds
to reveal them, and somewhere like tropical Britain (well this year at
least!) has a very high rate of soil covering, from rotting plant life
and water silting etc so any meteorites are more likely to be covered
with a thick layer of soil in just a few hundred years, sitting in deep
drier soil might actually preserve better them of course than sitting
out in the rain and air?

I suspect therefore that hunting meteorites in anything other than
desert or a strewnfield, will require you to dig deep!

The trouble with statistics is they imply a uniform distribution of
impacts, there could of course be a massive pile of meteorites in your
next door neighbors house and none in the rest of the country :)


... But then of course our very own Rob Elliot finds some laying on the
ground in the dampest erm.. I mean prettiest place on earth -
Scotland(!) :)

Cheers,

Mark
Received on Thu 11 Sep 2003 03:58:37 AM PDT