[meteorite-list] Franconia classification/variations

From: Wally B <desertexplorer_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:12 2004
Message-ID: <ABFLJDFFJMOMPAAA_at_mailcity.com>

Hi List,
After seeing some of the Franconia posts and their pictures, I got to thinking, does anyone know how many different types of the Franconia Wash meteorite from Arizona there are? I don't live far from there and have searched the field a few times and have been told by another in the field that there are more then one type. Turns out that along with the H’s there have been a couple of L’s or maybe LL’s found. I've even been told that some could be an impact melt. If this is the case then it would make sense that you would find a couple of different class’s within the same fall. Does anyone know anything about this? I have a couple of Franconia’s that have some strange fissures (don’t really know what else to call it) in them where it looks like material has been melted out during it’s fiery flight. Could the fissures be an area between the L, LL or H where the stone is less dense due to less iron if some are impact melts? Or is this typical of some Franconia’s to have these melte
d out cuts in them? If these fissures are typical, has any larger stones been sectioned where these fissures are to see if the stones very in metal content? Here are a few pictures showing some of the variations in the stones.

This is my largest stone showing a couple of the fissures in it:

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL83/509877/4051423/50427967.jpg
http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL83/509877/4051423/50427972.jpg
http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL83/509877/4051423/50427976.jpg
The stone was purchased from the discoverer of the field back in February and is one of the largest found in the Franconia field and weighs a little over 14 lbs. It is virtually 100% fusion crusted with some nice thumbprints.

This is my smallest also showing a fissure:

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL83/509877/4051423/50428332.jpg
http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL83/509877/4051423/50428328.jpg
http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL83/509877/4051423/50428322.jpg
It is somewhat oriented and weighs 380 grams.

This last one is different in that it has none of the features of the first two but shows some lines like flow lines or shear lines:

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL83/509877/4051423/50427934.jpg
http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL83/509877/4051423/50427955.jpg
 It is 100% fusion crusted and weighs close to 7.5 lbs

Thanks,
Wally
Las Vegas



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Received on Wed 07 Apr 2004 11:43:55 PM PDT