[meteorite-list] Re: Franconia Area Meteorites

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:13 2004
Message-ID: <20040410144051.80807.qmail_at_web60302.mail.yahoo.com>

Apparently the List was down yesterday when I
orginally sent my reply to Tracy, and since then Devin
has done a good job of answering Tracy's question.
But I'll resend this anyway, because I want to
pesonally extend kudos to Rubin and Mike for the good
job they have done in the handling of their
Franconia/Buck Mountain/Dutch Flat Area meteorite
finds: -- Bob V.

---------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 18:27:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Robert Verish" <bolidechaser_at_yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Franconia Area Meteorites
To: "Meteorite-list Meteoritecentral"
<meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com.>
        

We shouldn't exclude from the Gold Basin Area list all
of the "Gold Basin L5" and the "Gold Basin L6" stones,
because I think this is what Tracy was referring to.
Acceptance of these names has met with resistance,
(myself included), yet
there is no denying that these are formally approved
names (I have the message from Jeff Grossman that
formally approves their usage).
But the point to be remembered here is that all of
these various L-meteorites from Gold Basin are deemed
by the NomComm to be from the same fall.
That's why they lumped all of them together under the
name "Gold Basin".

But it is doubtful that this "special case" for Gold
Basin will have any bearing on the naming of Franconia
area meteorites. Here there is ample evidence of
separate falls, if not overlapping strewn fields.

So, based on the reports of Rubin Garcia & Mike Miller
- that ASU estimates ~10 different chondrites from
this area - the typical response to the phrase
"Franconia meteorite" will be "Okay, but WHICH
Franconia meteorite?"

And who gets to decide which ones are paired?

Also, I don't feel it's "safe to assume" that enough
Franconia specimens are being properly examined, let
alone classified. And that's why the effort put
forward by Garcia & Miller is so notable; it's because
they are the exception, and not the rule. They
deserve major kudos for this effort in getting so many
of their specimens examined and classified.

It's because of this effort (and they're being local
to Franconia) and ever since Mike contacted me back in
November about their new finds, that I have been
slowly winding down my involvement with this locality.
 So I agree with John, if anyone has any questions
regarding the types of meteorites being found in this
"hot-spot", you should contact Ruben or Mike. I've
already mentioned in a previous post that, if you have
a Franconia specimen that you want examined, you
should forward it to ASU Center for Meteorite Studies.

And finally, about my slices of Franconia (H5), I
would feel more comfortable if we were to refer to
this stone the John Wolfe meteorite, since he is the
finder of that stone. My involvement with that stone
was supposed to be temporary. It was my intention,
after getting it classified for John, to keep that
stone in Arizona - in the ASU collection. But after
more than a year of negotiating, they ended taking an
unclassified specimen from a meteorite dealer. I
would still prefer to see Franconia (H5) kept in
Arizona, but what is Arizona's loss might become some
collector's gain.

Bob V.

-------------------


At 02:17 AM 4/9/2004, tracy latimer wrote:
>Have other samples of meteorites collected from
Franconia Wash been turned in for classification?
Does this mean that Franconia will become
Franconia(a), to be followed by Franconia(b),
Franconia(c), etc.? That's one thing that has puzzled
me; with the several different types that have come
out of Gold Basin, why are they all still lumped
together as just "Gold Basin"? Several people have
said there seem to be at least 2, maybe 3 strewnfields
there, or at least it seems to be a big collecting
point.
There should be enough data there to designate at
least a couple of different falls/finds.
>
>Tracy Latimer
>
>
>
>>Hi List,
>>
>>John is right, as there are many new chondrite finds
>>in the Franconia area. I along with Mike Miller have
>>been hunting the area for many months, long beforeit
>>was common knowledge to the meteorite community. We
>>have found many meteorites, but just as important we
>>have found many different types of meteorites. Mike
>>and I have personally submitted for classification
>>over 10 different chondrite "types" ranging from
anLL
>>to an H. And yes we have even found some Iron
>>meteorites! I feel confident in saying this because
>>the Arizona State University has been involved
withus
>>in the classification process since the beginningand
>>therefore this is not merely our opinion but alsothe
>>opinion those at Arizona State University. As manyof
>>you know the classification process can take
sometime
>>but please be patient as these classifications are
>>forthcoming.
>>
>>During the entire time we have hunted this area we
>>have only come across a few grams of Bob Verishs'
>>Franconia meteorite ( fortunately for us we actually
>>had a slice of his Franconia to compare to our finds
)
>> Because of this we can only assume that there is
>>much less Franconia meteorite than there at first
>>seemed to be. That is not to say that there isn't a
>>lot of Franconia, indeed there may be, but maybe
not
>>as much as some think. In fact, Bobs Franconia may
>>not even be the most abundant meteorite out there,
as
>>we have many large pieces that are NOT like Bobs
>>Franconia.
>>
>>I have heard it said once or twice that this may be
>>another gold basin, let me be the first to say I
>>highly doubt it. First of all it is obviously unique
>>because of the many types of meteorites being found.
>>Jim Kriegh ( one of the original gold basin strewn
>>field finders) upon hunting with us even dubbed it
>>the " Meteorite Graveyard" as he too found several
>>different types of meteorites. Also in my humble
>>opinion there is not all that much left. This is an
>>area where some of the more skilled hunters can and
>>have gone days without the slightest signal on their
>>detector. Many hunters will tell you there are
>>precious few meteorites still left.
>>
>>To this day we continue to hunt, and even though we
>>don't find much anymore, it is still exiting. Think
>>about it, these are NEW ARIZONA METEORITES! Whether
or
>>not they end up being classified as Franconia or any
>>one of the many other provisional names we have
>>chosen, they simply are a unique and rare treasure.
>>
>>
>>Sincerely,
>>Ruben Garcia and Mike Miller
>>
>>__________________________________


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - File online by April 15th
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
Received on Sat 10 Apr 2004 10:40:51 AM PDT